Sellwood Moreland Improvement League

Earthquake preparedness

Oct 06, 2005

By SMILE invitation, Rachel Jacky appeared at the SMILE General Public Meeting on Wednesday evening, October 5th, to discuss from the city?’s perspective Portland?’s preparedness in the event of catastrophe. She pointed out that our region is prone to offshore ?“subduction earthquakes?”, which reach 9.0+ on the magnitude scale, cause tsunamis on the coast, and cause enormous damage far inland. The last such earthquake here happened in January of 1700, and ?“we are not in the window for another?”. One could occur tomorrow--or not for hundreds of years. But it is certain there WILL be another. She pointed out that in times of disaster, people do step up to help, and Portland has responded by establishing ?“Neighborhood Emergency Teams?” (NET) to provide essential help long before official assistance is able to arrive. Training is quite straightforward, conducted by the Fire Bureau, and deals with rescue, hazardous materials, disrupted utilities, survival medicine, building stability assessment, team organization, and trauma intervention. The next classes for potential NET members will be early next year; those interested can contact SMILE for more information. The presentation ended with details by the local leader of SMILENET, the team in Sellwood and Westmoreland, Twila Jordahl. The goal is to have at least 20 active members; there are about ten now.