Portland Prepares for the Big One

A new report identifies key actions for the city of Portland to prepare for the certainty of a large earthquake.

1 minute read

February 16, 2017, 12:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Portland

Sung Choi / Shutterstock

"The City Club of Portland has released a lengthy report from its Earthquake Resilience Research Committee and it looks like the city has its work cut out for it before the big one hits," reports Kale Williams.

The report, "Big Steps Before the Big One: How the Portland area can bounce back after a major earthquake" [pdf], identifies five areas of primary concern to the city's resilience in the event of a large earthquake: fuel, buildings, lifelines, people, and coordinated planning.

Portland is one of the cities located on the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the subject of a frightening July 2015 freature in the New Yorker. The report by the City Club isn't the first step taken by the city to assess its earthquake readiness since that article shook everyone up. In May 2016, the city also released an interactive online map of the risk presented by specific buildings around the city.

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