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Source: http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.as...21&TM=58149.66
4/17/2009 12:28:00 PM
What to do with mass fatalities?
Seminar washes in a wave of questions about catastrophe event preparedness
By JOE GAMM
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON - An earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone is going to change life in the Northwest.
It will affect 10 million people along the West Coast.
James Roddey, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries earth sciences and information officer, said scientists have only known about the possibility of 9.0-magnitude earthquakes off the coast for the past 25 years. And people have only been preparing for them for the past 10.
Roddey's presentation at the Rilea Armed Forces Training Center Tuesday was part of a seminar to discuss Oregon's plans to deal with mass fatalities.
"How we prepare for this is going to define us as a society for 100 years," Roddey told two dozen people from local governments, the American Red Cross, faith-based organizations, law enforcement offices and fire protection districts during the seminar.
The seminar, the seventh of nine to be held statewide, was presented by Oregon Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program (OPHEP) for local emergency-service providers to discuss how they would deal with the dead after a catastrophic event.
An earthquake of that magnitude would create a tsunami that would likely kill thousands.
Roddey said the 600-mile fault has ruptured 14 times over the past 4,800 years. The last time it happened was Jan. 26, 1700. Roddey said researchers determined that date by contacting folks in Japan and asking them if they had a record of an "orphan tsunami."
Recent research suggests that smaller ruptures along the southern part of the fault tend to precede San Andreas quakes by three to four decades.
But Northwest Natives had records of tsunamis as well, in their myths and oral histories.
They had the myth about a killer whale - a bad spirit that was ravaging the people and eating their fish. Thunderbird - a good spirit - took the killer whale onto the ground and had a battle with it. The ground shook and the water rose. Thunderbird defeated the killer whale, then battled the killer whale's son for days.
"Those were the aftershocks," Roddey said.
Roddey said the legends said "when the flood tide came, there was no ebb tide." He also said the legends said water carried the people far away.
"Native Americans did not look upon these events as catastrophes - they looked upon them as hazards to be dealt with," Roddey said.
He said a culture of awareness about tsunamis in India caused people to be aware of what to do when a 2005 earthquake caused a tsunami to occur.
"When the event happens, it's going to change life in the Pacific Northwest as we know it," Roddey said.
So, when a tsunami happens, if thousands of people are dead, what's a community to do?
Joell Archibald, the Clatsop County Health and Human Services director, said the county only has capability of storing about 12 bodies.
That's the equivalent of a bus crash, said Nan Newell, OPHEP senior strategic planner.
"It's important to say, 'How many deaths would stress our system?'" she said. Then she added that the team presenting the plan would try not to overwhelm seminar attendees.
She said that when the state thinks about worse-case scenarios, two catastrophes emerge, a 9.0 rupture along the Cascadia Subduction Zone or a pandemic flu outbreak.
"Tsunamis tend not to generate a lot of injuries - you're either alive, or you're dead," Roddey said. He added, "It's not the water that kills you, it's the minivan it's carrying."
Tuesday's exercise was intended to discuss how a broad range of local responders would coordinate with the state response to a catastrophic event. As well as tsunamis, another threat the Northwest faces comes from a pandemic flu event.
Clifford Nelson, Oregon's deputy state medical examiner, said one of the most important jobs first-responders can do is identify the dead. In the case of a tsunami, all the dead would have died for the same reason.
"Most people who die are going to be visually identifiable," he said. "Most will be found at expected locations."
But there must be a plan to identify the remains, compile data on the dead, notify next-of-kin, sign and record death certificates and transport remains to funeral homes. Mass fatality incidents are organized chaos, Nelson said. Planners must know what facilities are going to remain standing after a catastrophe, to store the dead.
"They are still finding remains from the World Trade Center, usually pieces of bones, usually on roofs," Newell said. "Trying to identify and return remains will go on for years."
A woman representing Columbia County said leaders in her county talked about using barges to store the dead.
"Are they refrigerated?" asked Newell. Organizers of the seminar said bodies would have to be dealt with in a few days. Local planners needed to discuss with local faith-based communities their customs and concerns and determine whether it would be appropriate to bury people in mass graves.
The responsibility for burying the dead comes down to the families of the dead. But there will be large numbers of unidentified or unclaimed dead.
Following a tsunami, neighboring states will come to the aid of the coastal states.
"A lot of people have said that this exercise is going to be for Idaho, because Idaho is up and running," Newell said.
4/17/2009 12:28:00 PM
What to do with mass fatalities?
Seminar washes in a wave of questions about catastrophe event preparedness
By JOE GAMM
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON - An earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone is going to change life in the Northwest.
It will affect 10 million people along the West Coast.
James Roddey, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries earth sciences and information officer, said scientists have only known about the possibility of 9.0-magnitude earthquakes off the coast for the past 25 years. And people have only been preparing for them for the past 10.
Roddey's presentation at the Rilea Armed Forces Training Center Tuesday was part of a seminar to discuss Oregon's plans to deal with mass fatalities.
"How we prepare for this is going to define us as a society for 100 years," Roddey told two dozen people from local governments, the American Red Cross, faith-based organizations, law enforcement offices and fire protection districts during the seminar.
The seminar, the seventh of nine to be held statewide, was presented by Oregon Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program (OPHEP) for local emergency-service providers to discuss how they would deal with the dead after a catastrophic event.
An earthquake of that magnitude would create a tsunami that would likely kill thousands.
Roddey said the 600-mile fault has ruptured 14 times over the past 4,800 years. The last time it happened was Jan. 26, 1700. Roddey said researchers determined that date by contacting folks in Japan and asking them if they had a record of an "orphan tsunami."
Recent research suggests that smaller ruptures along the southern part of the fault tend to precede San Andreas quakes by three to four decades.
But Northwest Natives had records of tsunamis as well, in their myths and oral histories.
They had the myth about a killer whale - a bad spirit that was ravaging the people and eating their fish. Thunderbird - a good spirit - took the killer whale onto the ground and had a battle with it. The ground shook and the water rose. Thunderbird defeated the killer whale, then battled the killer whale's son for days.
"Those were the aftershocks," Roddey said.
Roddey said the legends said "when the flood tide came, there was no ebb tide." He also said the legends said water carried the people far away.
"Native Americans did not look upon these events as catastrophes - they looked upon them as hazards to be dealt with," Roddey said.
He said a culture of awareness about tsunamis in India caused people to be aware of what to do when a 2005 earthquake caused a tsunami to occur.
"When the event happens, it's going to change life in the Pacific Northwest as we know it," Roddey said.
So, when a tsunami happens, if thousands of people are dead, what's a community to do?
Joell Archibald, the Clatsop County Health and Human Services director, said the county only has capability of storing about 12 bodies.
That's the equivalent of a bus crash, said Nan Newell, OPHEP senior strategic planner.
"It's important to say, 'How many deaths would stress our system?'" she said. Then she added that the team presenting the plan would try not to overwhelm seminar attendees.
She said that when the state thinks about worse-case scenarios, two catastrophes emerge, a 9.0 rupture along the Cascadia Subduction Zone or a pandemic flu outbreak.
"Tsunamis tend not to generate a lot of injuries - you're either alive, or you're dead," Roddey said. He added, "It's not the water that kills you, it's the minivan it's carrying."
Tuesday's exercise was intended to discuss how a broad range of local responders would coordinate with the state response to a catastrophic event. As well as tsunamis, another threat the Northwest faces comes from a pandemic flu event.
Clifford Nelson, Oregon's deputy state medical examiner, said one of the most important jobs first-responders can do is identify the dead. In the case of a tsunami, all the dead would have died for the same reason.
"Most people who die are going to be visually identifiable," he said. "Most will be found at expected locations."
But there must be a plan to identify the remains, compile data on the dead, notify next-of-kin, sign and record death certificates and transport remains to funeral homes. Mass fatality incidents are organized chaos, Nelson said. Planners must know what facilities are going to remain standing after a catastrophe, to store the dead.
"They are still finding remains from the World Trade Center, usually pieces of bones, usually on roofs," Newell said. "Trying to identify and return remains will go on for years."
A woman representing Columbia County said leaders in her county talked about using barges to store the dead.
"Are they refrigerated?" asked Newell. Organizers of the seminar said bodies would have to be dealt with in a few days. Local planners needed to discuss with local faith-based communities their customs and concerns and determine whether it would be appropriate to bury people in mass graves.
The responsibility for burying the dead comes down to the families of the dead. But there will be large numbers of unidentified or unclaimed dead.
Following a tsunami, neighboring states will come to the aid of the coastal states.
"A lot of people have said that this exercise is going to be for Idaho, because Idaho is up and running," Newell said.