The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan served as a wake up call for coastal residents and visitors on our shores. Now two years later, it's hard to measure how much that disaster has changed tsunami readiness on the Pacific Northwest coast.
Ceremonies in Newport, Oregon and Long Beach, Washington yesterday (Sunday) marked the second anniversary of the great earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In Newport, a small crowd attended the dedication of an outdoor exhibit. It's built around a piece of the tsunami debris dock that washed ashore last summer. In Long Beach, people folded origami cranes. That's a traditional gesture to send luck to Japan for rebuilding.
Althea Rizzo is the geologic hazards program coordinator for Oregon Emergency Management. She says she's certain tsunami awareness has increased.
"There have been a number of academic studies over the last 10 to 15 years that have shown that people are becoming much more aware about the earthquake and tsunami hazard here," Rizzo says.
But what Rizzo really wants to see is people converting awareness into action. She's encouraged by evolving plans to move some vulnerable coastal schools to higher ground. But by another measuring stick, she says there's backsliding. The federal government provides most of the money for tsunami education and preparation. President Obama's proposed 2014 budget zeroes out the main program. I'm Tom Banse in Olympia.
