BANDON, Ore. -- Another series of earthquakes added to the geological mystery off the Oregon Coast on Monday.Four sizable quakes rumbled off the coastline in a span of four hours Monday night.The largest, a 4.1 earthquake located 115 miles west of Port Orford, occurred at 7:17 p.m.Over the past several weeks, there have been hundreds of small quakes west of the coastal towns of Bandon and Port Orford. They have varied in magnitude from 3.0 to above 5.0.
Scientists have said they don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be caused by molten rock rumbling away from the recognized faults off Oregon.Monday night's earthquakes:
Related:
Report An Earthquake To USGS
There may have been 600 earthquakes recorded off the Oregon Coast in recent weeks, but it took an imaginary quake to get volunteers with the local American Red Cross office shaking.
Luckily, none of the recent tremors caused any damage on land, but if any did in the future, local Red Cross volunteers want to be ready.
That’s why about 80 community members, including some 35 Red Cross disaster relief volunteers, pitched in over the weekend for a disaster response drill through the Oregon Pacific Chapter of the American Red Cross Roseburg branch.
Roseburg’s George and Virginia Roth, who started volunteering with the disaster relief program following Hurricane Katrina, came up with the idea to practice the scenario about a month ago.
“I couldn’t think of anything else that would provide us with fires, floods, road closures and house damage,” George Roth said Friday morning, about a half-hour before the imaginary 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit the area. “I didn’t plan it to correspond with the 600 earthquakes off the coast.”
With around 60 dams in Douglas County, several of which have a high risk for damage in an earthquake, Roth said the potential for widespread flooding and landslides is not far-fetched.
A large-scale earthquake could also turn homes to rubble and damage natural gas lines, leading to fires.
Red Cross volunteers remove items from an Emergency Response Vehicle, Friday. The local office of the Oregon Pacific Chapter of the American Red Cross conducted a disaster readiness exercise Friday and Saturday. JON AUSTRIA / N-R staff photo |
Some community members had agreed to play the part of victims whose homes had been damaged in the earthquake, and headed to the shelter where volunteers assessed their needs.
Other Red Cross volunteers practiced assessing damage to homes, sending out communications through radio and assessing medical needs.
The Douglas County Health Department, the Civilian Emergency Response Team, the Amateur Radio Emergency Services, the Roseburg fire and police departments, the Salvation Army, and the county’s health and social services department and emergency operations center also participated.
| So you know ... | |
|
The Roths and Jim Caplan, Red Cross district director, said as far as they know this was the first exercise of its scale undertaken in Oregon. The drill continued over a 30-hour period.
“It’s not just the Red Cross people,” Caplan said. “It’s people from throughout the community.”
The purpose of the drill was to identify strengths and weaknesses in the abilities of the volunteers and the community to handle a disaster.
But Caplan and the Roths emphasize that community members bear responsibility as individuals as well. Residents should always keep at least 72 hours’ worth of food and water in their homes, along with other supplies such as a portable radio, a flash light and a list of contact information for relatives.
“Individual and community preparedness is our single best proactive thing to do,” George Roth said.
Comments (who do YOU believe? Think about Hurrican Katrina!! They were an officially-sanctioned DISASTER squad!!)
Re: Red Cross stages disaster response drill
by Anonymous on Monday, April 21 @ 17:02:23 PDT |
Watching the Local Red Cross in action at this training session a wise person might just make sure they can take care of their own family and not rely on the Red Cross. It had the look of chaos aplenty.
I hope they improve. It looked like way too many volunteers bossing others around, without knowing what they were supposed to do... It seemed that the ham radio people had more training, than the Red Cross people did. Maybe this Red Cross office here has never really put in any time with disaster training. Oh well, they are good at getting blood donations.. |
Re: Red Cross stages disaster response drill
by Anonymous on Tuesday, April 22 @ 12:28:16 PDT |
When you need the Red Cross, we will be there. For example, we repond to dozens of Douglas County house fires every year, providing people with clothing, shelter, and food. As it was on 4/18, every exercise begins with some confusion. In this case, it was straightened out quickly and the shelter was up and operating in short order. With the active involvement of our partners, we hosted about 25 "clients" overnight and fed more than 50 people at a time. This was the first full-scale shelter exercise in Roseburg in at least a decade. We learned a lot that will help us improve in the future. Anyone is welcome to join the Red Cross and contribute to the community. Our extensive disaster training courses are free to disaster volunteers. I agree with the commenter that every family should work hard to be prepared. We have preparedness orientation and information available for free to families and community groups. Just call us at 673-3255.
"Cap" Caplan, District Dire |
Reminder:
2008 Nat’l Earthquake Conference starts today in Seattle
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized, Earthquakes
The 2008 National Earthquake Conference, if nothing else, will go down as having benefited from good timing. Starting today (Tuesday, April 22) and continuing through April 26, conferees gathering in Seattle, Washington can talk among other things about the Friday, April 18 earthquake that originated in Illinois and had after-shocks that were felt days later. Indeed, the event renewed media interest in the New Madrid (Missouri) seismic zone, site of a momentous series of earthquakes in 1812. The 2008 National Earthquake Conference is chaired by the four national earthquake and emergency consortia groups funded by FEMA under the National Earthquake Program (the Northeast States Emergency Corsortium, Central United States Earthquake Consortium, the Western States Seismic Policy Council and Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup), the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and the Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council (EPICC) of British Columbia, Canada.
Recent Earthquakes in Pacific Northwest
---> Please visit and bookmark our reorganized earthquake pages at - http://www.ess.washington.edu/recenteqs/latest.htm
Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest: A Survivor's Guide, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
 |
By Robert S. Yeats 2004. 6 x 9 inches. 400 pages. Illustrations. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. ISBN 0-87071-024-9. Paperback, $29.95 Table of Contents |
In this expanded new edition of Living with Earthquakes, Robert Yeats, a leading authority on earthquakes in California and the Pacific Northwest, describes the threat posed by the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a great earthquake fault which runs for hundreds of miles offshore from British Columbia to northern California. New research reveals subtle movements on the deepest part of this fault every fourteen to fifteen months-building up strain toward the next major earthquake.
Combining cutting-edge research with practical safety information, Living with Earthquakes
*introduces new information about the danger from faults beneath major Northwest cities: the Seattle Fault, Tacoma Fault, and Portland Hills Fault
*explores such topics as earthquake forecasting, catastrophe insurance, tsunamis, soil liquefaction, and seismic waves in Northwest lakes caused by Alaskan earthquakes
*reviews earthquake preparedness and disaster response in the aftermath of the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, the worst natural disaster in Washington's history
*suggests actions that citizens can take to protect their families and homes
An essential guide for anyone interested in understanding earthquake science or in preparing for the next earthquake, this book is also a call to action. Vivid descriptions of recent disasters-including the great tsunami that swept down the Northwest coast in 1964, the 1993 Oregon earthquakes, and the 2001 Nisqually earthquake-underscore the urgent need for better earthquake planning and awareness.
The Author
Robert S. Yeats is senior consultant for Earth Consultants International and professor emeritus in geology at Oregon State University. He is the author of Living With Earthquakes in California and co-author of The Geology of Earthquakes. He lives in Corvallis, Oregon.
Secure online ordering form (Orders go to our distributor - The University of Arizona Press). For a complete listing of available books, check out our catalog of books in print.
No comments:
Post a Comment