In the wake of one of the worst earthquakes in recent memory, China’s death toll since last month’s earthquake surpassed 68,000 last week.
On the other side of the globe and on a moderately sized college campus, the University’s emergency management program continues to work to raise awareness about earthquake preparation and mitigating risk.
Andre Le Duc, the University’s director of the emergency management program, said his program oversees all of the emergency planning for campus, which includes not only the response portion, but a mitigation plan as well.

According to the University’s emergency management Web site, “The purpose of this natural hazard mitigation plan is to assist the University of Oregon in reducing its risk from natural hazards by identifying resources, information and strategies for risk reduction.”
Mitigation is only one of the four phases in the disaster cycle. Emergency management focuses on mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
“To be honest, the city doesn’t have a recovery plan,” said Le Duc. “We (the University) want to be not only ready to respond, we want to mitigate risk and think about how we would recover.”
Le Duc worked with the University’s Emergency Management Advisory Committee, which he said has representation from many of the departments on campus, including the library, student life and academic affairs. Together, they worked to create the mitigation plan, which President Dave Frohnmayer approved in March of 2006, said Le Duc.
“We’re the first university in the state of Oregon to have a mitigation plan,” said Le Duc. “That’s a kudos to the administration on campus.”
Le Duc has worked with the campus on these issues since 2003. He emphasized that the campus has been busy with emergency management plans.
Le Duc noted that a lot of students confuse the mitigation plan with response planning.
“Emergency planning is much more holistic and system-wide,” said Le Duc. “It’s not just response. Emergency management is thinking, ‘How do we prepare, recover, mitigate and prevent losses in the future?’”
He said that administrators, students and faculty alike need to be aware of their surroundings in order to prepare for earthquakes.
“It’s as simple as looking around your dorm room or in your office and looking for heavy objects above your head.”
Marli Miller, a senior instructor in the geological sciences department, said Oregon doesn’t get nearly the amount of seismic activity as California or Washington.
Le Duc said that even though Eugene isn’t a high risk earthquake zone, the city would still feel the effects from a quake off the coast.
“We’re in a moderate risk zone in Eugene,” said Le Duc. “The coast and Portland have much more risk than we do. Our biggest risk is disruption.” He said in the event of a major earthquake, Eugene would experience significant problems with traffic, gas and water.
While Eugene specifically is not considered at risk as a major earthquake zone, the Cascadia Subduction Zone is considered one of the biggest threats in the region. Other subduction zone earthquakes include the deadly Sumatra earthquake in 2004, which triggered massive tsunami waves, and the Great Alaska earthquake of 1964, which was a magnitude 9.2. Last month’s earthquake in China measured at 8.0.
Reed Burgette, a graduate student in the geological sciences department at the University, said the Cascadia Subduction Zone may have the potential for a 9.0 to 9.1 earthquake.
“What Katrina was to the Gulf Coast, Cascadia is to the Northwest,” said Le Duc. The Cascadia Subduction Zone begins off of Cape Mendocino in northern California and continues through Vancouver, British Columbia.
According to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, the Cascadia Subduction Zone “separates the Juan de Fuca and North America plates. New ocean floor is being created offshore of Washington and Oregon. As more material wells up along the ocean ridge, the ocean floor is pushed toward and beneath the continent. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is where the two plates meet.”
Burgette, who is working on neotectonics, said there is no guarantee that the next earthquake will affect the total area in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Cascadia last experienced a full subduction zone quake in January of 1700.
“The average time between earthquakes that people see through these studies is about 600 years,” said Burgette.
Eugene Humphreys, a professor in the geological sciences department, said Oregon gets bigger earthquakes, but they happen less frequently than some other states.
“Statistically speaking, we’re in a place where we can expect some very large earthquakes,” said Humphreys.
Humphreys said the last subduction zone earthquake, 300 years ago, broke the subduction fault, which runs from Cape Mendocino to Vancouver. He said that the earthquake Eugene could face would be large but far away.
“If you’re a planner, you have to assume it could happen,” said Humphreys. “It’s unlikely in a given year. But if something happens and you don’t plan for it, you’re in trouble.”
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