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Roger's Home Journal
Roger's Home JournalHit By A Ton Of Bricks
By Roger Faris
Feb 28, 2002 -- A year has passed since the Nisqually Earthquake sent shock waves through the Puget Sound Region and left us all quite rattled. It was a huge relief to find that only a handful of people suffered serious injuries that day, and that somehow nobody was killed. The total economic toll was finally estimated at over $350 million, but most of our homes and businesses survived. We were very fortunate that both the duration and intensity of ground motion were moderate.Luck, of course, was only part of the story. In our area, efforts to mitigate earthquake damage have been a high priority for many years. While the work is far from done, it's important to realize that many of the most vulnerable bridges and buildings had been strengthened before February 28, 2001. We'll never know how much death and destruction was prevented by past seismic upgrade work, but there's plenty of evidence that these investments made an enormous difference on that Wednesday morning last year.
I'd like to shine a big spotlight on the efforts of experts who address this situation as the critical emergency that it surely is. Jim Mullen, the director of Seattle Office of Emergency Management, has been a leader in getting our region to be serious about disaster mitigation. He and his dedicated staff, along with their colleagues throughout the region, are persuading and assisting government agencies, school districts, business owners and residents to take appropriate and effective action before the next serious earthquake occurs.
Jim, Ines, Denise, LuAnn, Elizabeth, Steve, Becky, TJ, Erika and hundreds of other emergency management professionals all know why this is the right thing to do. Being prepared to deal with natural or manmade disasters is just part of their work. They understand that preparation, response and recovery tools are not sufficient when we face such serious threats to our safety and regional economy. Mitigation is the ounce of prevention that can prevent a ton of bricks from landing on our heads.
Visit the UW's Burke Museum to get a better idea of the reasons for concern, and the importance of an ongoing, regional call to action. The new exhibit is called "The Big One--Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest," and will be open for the next six months. You'll learn fascinating details about the recent discoveries of geologists and seismologists, enjoy interactive demonstrations and get a good introduction to structural safety retrofitting. The crushed remains of a passenger van sits in the middle of the exhibit and provides dramatic proof of what can happen to a person or object that happens to be in the right place at the wrong time.
Roger Faris is the director of the Phinney Neighborhood Association Well Home Program and Project Impact Earthquake Retrofit Program. He can be reached at (206) 789-4993.
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