Five Steps to Tsunami Preparedness This is my advice to the City Council on how to prepare Arcata for a Cascadia subduction zone generated tsunami. I. Dont just take my word for it. Hire several world-class experts to analyze the tsunami hazard in Arcata and to make recommendations for a 50 year tsunami readiness plan for our city. (I suggest that you contact Dr. Chris Goldfinger at email address and some of the many other scientists and professionals who contributed to the Oregon resilience plan. Dr. Goldfinger has taken a lead role in a number of research projects application by the USGS and Oregon State University which have contributed substantially to the worlds understanding of the tsunami hazard in the Pacific Northwest. I have never met Dr. Goldfinger in person, and I would certainly not benefit in any way if you hire him rather than any other expert, but I have been impressed with his work, and I feel confident that the recommendations that he would provide for our area would encourage the citizens of Humboldt County to effectively prepare for a worst-case scenario tsunami as rapidly as possible.) II. Identify and reserve a suitable area, at least 100 feet above sea level, that will become the future location of City Hall, the Arcata Plaza, and all of the citys critical infrastructure. (I recommend eventually moving City Hall and the Plaza to the very top of Fickle Hill near the side overlooking the bay.) III. Determine and develop a long-term source of funding for tsunami planning and preparedness related expenses over the next 50 years for the city of Arcata and commit ongoing financial support from the city for this purpose. (I suggest forming a chain of several nonprofit and democratically governed tsunami preparation banks across Humboldt County, including one in Arcata, which together could generate billions of dollars over the next 50 years without significantly increasing taxes for an initial cost of only a few million dollars.) IV. Democratically develop and implement a 50 year tsunami preparedness plan through ballot initiatives, referendums, submissions of citizen generated proposals and votes via the Internet and the appointment of a standing committee dedicated to preparing Arcata for a tsunami that will report to the City Council and the Public on Arcatas progress toward tsunami preparedness and current state of tsunami readiness on a quarterly basis. (I suggest that you allow the public to offer proposals by mail, email, via a tsunami preparedness website, or by submitting a form at City Hall, and that you have semiannual public voting periods where the people of Arcata may choose from their fellow citizens tsunami preparation proposals and ratify the proposals they like best into an official tsunami plan for the city of Arcata. You should also allow a democratic referendum process to remove or amend previously ratified portions of the tsunami plan.) V. Move all of the citys critical infrastructure, including the highway and the airport, to at least 100 feet above sea level, and establish a tsunami recovery area designed to withstand a worst-case scenario earthquake and tsunami and to provide adequate food, water, shelter, electricity and solid and liquid waste disposal capacity for the entire population of Arcata for at least one year after the event. (Since there is a 37 to 42% chance of a catastrophic Cascadia subduction zone generated tsunami occurring here within 50 years or less, each of these five steps can and should beat least initiated by the Arcata City Council within six months or less. The first four steps should each be completed within two years or less. The establishment of a recovery area and the relocation of all critical infrastructure, as mentioned in step five, should be completed within three years or less, in order to ensure compliance with the mandate imposed upon each of you when you took your oaths of office, wherein each of you solemnly swore to take all necessary and appropriate actions to preserve the safety and happiness of the citizens of Arcata.)
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 22:46:41 +0000
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