Oregon State U. engineers are exploring the possibility of helping the city of Cannon Beach design the nation’s first tsunami evacuation structure.
The plan is to rebuild Cannon Beach’s city hall and transform it into a municipal center and a potentially life-saving evacuation shelter, if the funds to finance the project are secured.
“Nothing quite like this has ever been done,” said Seth Thomas, a graduate student in structural engineering and head of the project.
Many residents of Cannon Beach support the project, arguing that the city hall is due to be replaced anyway. Others suggest that it would be beneficial to preserve the city government in the event of a tsunami, according to Patrick Corcoran, an OSU Sea Grant Extension hazards outreach specialist.
Why the tsunami hype? The region many Oregonians call home is resting on top of one of the largest natural hazards in the United States.
The Pacific Northwest lies off the coast of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The plate of the earth under the Pacific Ocean is slowly diving under the North American continent, causing friction when the oceanic and continental plates scrape against each other.
The plate formations that caused devastating tsunamis in Chile in 2010 and in Sumatra in 2004 were almost identical to the Cascadia Subduction Zone formation, Corcoran said.
He also noted there is a one-in-three chance a major earthquake and tsunami disaster will occur in the Cascadia Subduction Zone in our generation.
On the Oregon Coast, knowledge of the threat of tsunamis has only been available for the past 20 to 30 years. Before this information was known, countless houses and buildings were constructed in areas in danger of a tsunami, Corcoran said.
“So now we have to compensate for the fact that we have so many valuable things in vulnerable places,” Corcoran said.
Once constructed, the building will be the first “vertical evacuation” structure in the United States.
OSU engineers involved in the project have been working at OSU’s Hinsdale Wave Research Lab since April 1, meticulously testing their designs.
“Because it’s so important, we need to know it’s going to work,” Thomas said.
In a worst-case scenario, lives will depend on the expertly designed building to withhold the crushing forces of a tsunami.
The city doesn’t know when construction will begin for the new city hall, because as of now, there isn’t enough money to build it. The cost of rebuilding the Cannon Beach city hall is approximately $2 million. To construct the new city hall, including the evacuation components, it would cost about $4 million.
City officials are hoping for government grants and possible financial help from engineering firms.
“They need money to make it real now,” Corcoran said.