Coast officials grim at tsunami talks.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

SALEM - Emergency managers on the Oregon Coast are ill-prepared and underequipped to deal with a major earthquake and tsunami, the managers said at a conference in Salem this week.

And if their worst-case scenario comes true - a magnitude 9 earthquake followed by eight to 10 hours of massive waves - there's precious little that people on the coast could do, other than try to save themselves, they agreed.

That's why a two-day workshop on tsunami preparedness was marked by a certain amount of defeatism. The purpose of the sessions, attended by city officials, fire chiefs, hospital managers and representatives of state agencies, was to figure out what officials need to ask for from state and federal lawmakers.

But as they considered the stark ramifications of a magnitude 9 quake, it quickly became clear that even the best-laid plans would be crippled, as a temblor and resulting tsunami disabled fire districts, hospitals, police stations, roads and bridges.

"Raise your hand if your critical facility is in the inundation zone," said Ann Steeves, regional coordinator with Samaritan Health Services, who led a tsunami workshop and discussion. The inundation zone includes all areas that would be flooded by a tsunami.

Half the hands in the packed banquet room shot up.

"I'm on the bottom of a three-story building that's not going to survive the quake," said Jim Hawley, Lincoln County's emergency services director. "Let's be realistic."

The lesson: Creating a "culture of awareness" among residents, tourists and business owners along the coast is the highest priority. The most important place to spend money is in education, said attendees at the conference that ended Wednesday.

`We need `tsunami champions' in each town: people to head up door-to-door outreach, business outreach, workshops, school curriculum, city-wide drills,' said George Priest, a geologist with the state Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. "To this defeatism, which I hear constantly - the policy in Hawaii for tsunamis is that they will save every person in the inundation zone. No one will die. They're not defeatist. They think outside the box."

The workshop's attendees did their best to set aside gloom and focus on how best to prepare for a disaster, especially one caused by an earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone fault, which is capable of a magnitude 9 rupture or greater.

Emergency officials worried aloud about their ability to reach people affected by the disaster. They don't have the staff, the equipment or the plans to overcome buckled roads and downed bridges.

"Our hospitals are not equipped to deal with those kinds of casualties," Steeves said. "Neither are our EMS systems. In Benton County, after 50 patients in an hour we've overwhelmed the system."

Much of the relief will have to come from the outside, they said, so it's important to let people in the valley know that a coastal tsunami isn't just a coastal problem.

"We're at the end of the road," said Jay Raskin, a city councilor in Cannon Beach. "Reconstruction will basically start in the valley and then get out to us."

Among the suggestions for how to be better prepared:

Having warning sirens triggered by a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake.

Asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a specific plan in response to a Cascadia subduction zone quake and tsunami.

Supersizing the tsunami inundation and evacuation maps into large posters that can be placed in key locations along the coast.

Recruiting volunteers to travel door to door to educate residents and business people about what to do in the event of a prolonged earthquake and tsunami.

Beefing up tsunami information signs so they lead to safe zones, rather than simply marking inundation areas.

Upgrading buildings, especially those that provide "critical infrastructure," such as police stations and hospitals, so they can withstand the disaster.

Creating caches of supplies in each community in waterproof, earthquake-resistant structures that hold purified water, food, blankets and medical kits.

Planning regular evacuation drills to keep awareness alive and teach residents how to respond.

Utilizing Oregon's fishing fleet, which may be best equipped to respond to survivors once the threat has passed.

Updating Forest Service road maps, as they may become alternate routes if roads become impassable.

These suggestions will be presented to legislators and congressional representatives at a "Tsunami Summit," to be held sometime in April. The Oregon Coastal Zone Management Agency, which organized the workshop, also will present a summary of this week's findings to lawmakers immediately, in the hope of getting funds to implement some of the ideas. There isn't much time to impact the federal budget, Priest warned, as members of Congress finalize their federal budget proposals this week.

Perhaps more importantly, conference participants said, the public's attention on tsunamis - which peaked after the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean disaster - won't last forever.