Tsunami Greatest Threat To Area: OSU Researchers

OPB.org Rob Manning | Feb. 22, 2012 11:24 a.m. | Updated: Feb. 22, 2012 noon

http://news.opb.org/article/osu-researchers-greatest-threat-area-tsunami/

Leading up to the anniversary of last year’s tsunami off Japan, Oregon State University researchers are emphasizing the potential for damage here, from an off-shore earthquake.

OSU engineering professor Scott Ashford toured Japan after last year’s quake. He says the greatest risk to human life from a major Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake is the tsunami threat facing the Oregon Coast. But Ashford expects the Willamette Valley would endure sustained shaking of up to five minutes.

Michael Clapp / OPB

Ashford explains, “It’s that strong shaking that’s going to have a significant impact on our mobility — our transportation system — as well as our other lifelines: electric power, fuel, natural gas, and our water systems.”

Geologists anticipate that the shaking would cause soils to liquefy and sap the stability of all kinds of infrastructure.

Ashford says damaged bridges would cut off the Coast from the Willamette Valley, and likely impair other major roads. State geologists are in the process of publishing new tsunami inundation maps for the Coast.

A state commission on seismic safety is expected to complete an Oregon Resilience Plan by the end of the year.

© 2012 OPB

OMSI Science Pub Scientific and Humanitarian Lesso...

Date: Feb. 22, 2012 Time: 7:00pm
Cost: $5 suggested cover charge. No RSVP or tickets required.
Located at: Mission Theater: 1624 NW Glisan Street, Portland
Access: 21+ Only, ID’s Required or minor with adult

Learn about the scientific aspects of both the Haiti and Japan earthquakes, including ongoing and future risks and implications for the USA, and an overview of the relief and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti was not particularly large. Magnitude 7 events happen dozens of times a year around the world. But this one killed a near-record number of people. What did scientists and the public know or not know about earthquake hazards in Haiti? Scientists knew that the area was likely to experience an earthquake of this size, but because such earthquakes had not occurred in Haiti for the past 240 years, public awareness was negligible. Building codes were non-existent, resulting in huge losses of life. On the other hand, the massive earthquake in Japan in March 2011 resulted in fewer deaths, while its tsunami wreaked widespread devastation.

The people and government of Haiti were overwhelmed by the size of the disaster, and the world community rushed to provide assistance in unimaginably difficult conditions. Civilian, military, and non-governmental organizations from around the world were involved in a relief operation of a magnitude larger than that ever previously staged in peacetime activities. Their cooperation, in situations that made communication and coordination almost impossible, provides a fascinating story that continues today, as reconstruction of the damaged country continues.

Dr. Wayne D. Pennington is a geophysicist at Michigan Technological University, where he is also the Chair of the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences. In addition, he is a Jefferson Science Fellow with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Dr. Pennington has worked in academia, industry, and federal government. In the 1970s, he studied tectonic earthquakes in Latin America and Pakistan. In the early 1980s, he was on the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, and studied the relationship of earthquakes to oil and gas production. Following that, he worked at the research laboratory for Marathon Oil Company, studying techniques to improve the identification of, and production from, oil and gas reservoirs. Since 1994, he has been at Michigan Tech, teaching and conducting research into geophysical observations of oil and gas production. In 2009-2010, he served full-time with USAID in Washington DC. He is President-Elect of the American Geological Institute and has served as the First Vice-President for the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. He has published over 30 papers, and co-authored (with his students) one book. His degrees are from Princeton University, Cornell University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mt. Hood Earthquake More Significant Risk Than Vol...

State Says Earthquake More Significant Risk Than Volcano At Mt. Hood
As heard on OPB
http://news.opb.org/article/state-says-earthquake-more-significant-risk-volcano-mt-hood/

Rob Manning | Feb. 6, 2012 7:04 p.m. | Updated: Feb. 6, 2012 8:46 p.m.

State geology officials say that an earthquake on Mt. Hood provides a more significant risk to the region than a volcanic eruption.

Geologists say they used state-of-the-art LIDAR data to map what’s happening underground on Mt. Hood — and what it could mean for people in the area. The study found that a significant volcanic eruption would cause up to a billion and a half dollars worth of damage and affect close to four-thousand people. That pales next to the damage from a 500-year earthquake: $9 billion in damage, affecting more than 60,000 people.

The agency’s chief scientist, Ian Madin, explains that volcanic debris would likely stick to the local river drainages.

Madin said, “Those valleys – the Sandy, Hood River – are really kind of down in deep canyons, and that’s where the mud flow goes, and nobody lives down there, whereas the earthquake sort of affects this entire area.”

The study also looked at risks posed by major floods, shifting river channels, and landslides.

http://www.oregongeology.org/pubs/nr/press-release-2012-01-31.pdf

Study details, map

http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/mthood/index.htm

© 2012 OPB

FEMA Citizen Corps Partners and Affiliates Updates

Community Preparedness Starts with YOU!

It’s the beginning of a New Year and we are excited so many of you have taken part in our January activities. Two weeks ago we honored the Individual and Community Preparedness Award winners as Champions of Change at the White House and last week we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Citizen Corps Program. As we continue to promote what you do, we also want to provide you with new resources, so I am proud to say the Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) recently hosted one of the most highly attended Community Preparedness Webinar Series webinars on record.

More than 1,800 individuals registered for the FREE Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) webinar. Every state within the U.S. was represented and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate even stopped by to say a few words. He talked about the importance of these new CERT tools and resources for CERT volunteers, local program managers and those wishing to start a CERT program in their own locality.

The webinar highlighted new, accessible versions of the CERT Basic Training Course, recently made available in Spanish, low vision and in screen reader . These materials serve to expand the reach of CERT into the Whole Community in terms of preparedness.

CERT National Office Director Rachel Jacky, presented on the new CERT Program Manager and CERT Train-the-Trainer Courses., The program manager course helps prepare current and prospective CERT managers/coordinators to create and sustain an active CERT program, while the train-the-trainer course provides a standard curriculum for states, regions and the Emergency Management Institute to train CERT instructors.

For all of those who participated, thank you for your continued support. For those who were not able to participate, you can view the webinar and find the recording HERE http://citizencorps.gov/news/webcasts/newcerttraining.shtm

Remember, Community Preparedness Starts with YOU!

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Paulette Aniskoff

Director, Individual and Community Preparedness

The National Office of Citizen Corps

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Interested in geek/open source responses after a d...

Crisis Commons
http://groups.google.com/group/crisiscommons

After the earthquake in Haiti, this group put together an extremely impressive open source dataset which various response groups added to and pretty dramatically improved the response even at the local level.

Thanks to Jeremy

What Tohoku teaches us about Cascadia Jan 25, 3pm

What Tohoku teaches us about Cascadia

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

White Stag Building (70 NW Couch Street, Portland, OR 97209)

Free and open to the public
The event is presented by the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup.

Speakers will address Cascadia issues in light of what we have learned from the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Dr. Chris Goldfinger marine geologist and geophysicist

Dr. Althea Rizzo Geologic Hazards Program Coordinator at Oregon Office of Emergency Management

Kent Yu, PhD, PE, SE, Principal and Branch Manager for Degenkolb Engineers in Portland

for more info

http://www.oregon.gov/OMD/OEM/plans_train/Earthquake/crew_1-25-12.pdf?ga=t