Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has signed an executive order requiring all new state buildings over 10,000 square feet to be engineered to withstand a 9.0-magnitude Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, and has directed that existing facilities receive comprehensive seismic upgrades by 2060.
“Preparing for an earthquake is a long game,” Kotek said yesterday. “If we look at a 50-year period, we can spread that cost out—replace or retrofit two per cent of our buildings each year, and in 50 years we’ll have upgraded every single one. Yes, it’s a multibillion-dollar effort, but planning it over decades makes the funding challenge more manageable.”
Scientists have for years warned that the so-called “big one”—a quake of magnitude 9.0 or larger—could strike the Pacific Northwest at any moment, with the potential to devastate roads, hospitals and homes. Under the order, designated “safe havens” would serve as shelters for displaced residents and command centres for emergency responders when disaster strikes.
State Rep. Dacia Grayber, a first responder and earthquake-readiness advocate, said, “One of the things that keeps me up at night is … we are the only post-industrial region pretty much in the world that hasn’t lived through our worst natural disaster. We’ve seen this train barreling down on us, yet we only react when emergencies start to personally affect us.” Priscilla Fuentes, CEO of the Red Cross Cascade Region, added, “It’s really hard when you don’t see or feel the impact of a disaster regularly to think it might happen to you. Keeping preparedness front of mind is half the battle.”
At stake are hundreds of public buildings that could be constructed using timber-based systems. Last year, Wood Central reported that a new “rocking wall system” could be the key to significantly improving the resilience of timber structures to the “big one.”
Tested as part of the 2023 TallWood project, where a ten-story cross-laminated timber tower underwent more than 100 full-scale shake-table tests. “The rocking walls didn’t just work; they were a resounding success,” said lead investigator Professor Shiling Pei. “If you’re looking for damage, this is a very boring test,” even as the building “violently shook.” PhD candidate Fionna Samuels explained, “When the shaking stops, the rods bring the wall’s edge back to being flush with the shake table … Thus, the building returns to its original vertical position.” Professor Keri Ryan, who oversaw nonstructural components, noted that all tested façade assemblies “accommodated movement without damage, which was huge.”
