First-of-its-kind tsunami shelter opens on Washington coast
Shoalwater Bay tribal leaders say their new tsunami evacuation platform on the southwest Washington coast should serve as an example and inspiration for other vulnerable communities.
On Friday, Aug. 5, the tribe held a joyful dedication ceremony for the 50-foot tall tower in Tokeland. This double-decker tsunami evacuation tower resembles things previously built in Japan, but it's the first of its type in North America.
The two other tsunami refuge structures on the Northwest coast — in Newport, Oregon and Westport, Washington — are reinforced platforms on the roofs of a school or university building. The Tokeland tower platforms have a capacity for more than 400 people, which is considerably more than the population of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe. So, a lot of the tribe's neighbors can escape the waves too.
The most likely next place in the Northwest to build a tsunami evacuation tower is the town of Ocean Shores, Wash., which is working with an engineering company on the design.
There's much more to this story. Read the full story here.
-
Tom Banse
Regional Correspondent
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports, and human interest stories across Washington state. Now semi-retired, Banse is an Olympia-based reporter with more than three decades of experience covering the Pacific Northwest. Most of his career was spent with public radio's Northwest News Network, but now in semi-retirement his work appears on multiple nonprofit news outlets including KUOW. His recent areas of focus range from transportation, U.S.-Canada borderlands, the Northwest region's planned hydrogen hub, and emergency preparedness.
More stories from Tom Banse »
