Westport, Washington, is about as close to being underwater as a city can get. It\u2019s surrounded by water on three sides: the South Bay to the east\u00a0and the vast Pacific Ocean to the north and west. A land bridge just two kilometers wide connects the town to the mainland. Lurking just offshore, the Cascadia fault threatens to finish the job.<\/p>\n
Running 1,130 kilometers from British Columbia to northern California, the Cascadia subduction zone is the fault line where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, the seafloor of the northeast Pacific Ocean, is forcing its way beneath North America. Stress is building, the fault is creaking, and one day the fault will rupture, releasing an earthquake of catastrophic proportions<\/a>. And when it does, low-lying Westport will be in the splash zone of the tsunami that such an earthquake will no doubt spawn. It will take about 20 minutes for the water to wash over the city.<\/p>\n Fortunately for the residents of Westport, there will soon be a place to flee when the ground starts to shake. The city is currently constructing the United States\u2019\u00a0first publicly funded tsunami shelter, with enough room to give a square meter of space each to 1,000 people\u2014about half of Westport\u2019s\u00a0population.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the event that there\u2019s really a big tsunami battering the coast, I think people might be willing to squeeze a little tighter,\u201d says Tim Walsh, a geologist with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources who has been working on tsunami safety since the 1990s.<\/p>\n In the early 2000s, Walsh and his colleagues began to investigate if it was even possible to build a structure that could be shaken by a large quake, clobbered by a tsunami, and still \u201clive to tell the tale.\u201d<\/p>\n Work on the concept continued for years, until the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami provided both a wealth of new information and rush of public awareness. In 2013, a plan was proposed to fix Westport\u2019s aging Ocosta Elementary School and, in the process, equip it with a tsunami shelter.<\/p>\n Now, a new school gym is being built on a hill that\u2019s nearly nine meters above sea level, making its roof, at nearly 17 meters elevation, one of the tallest buildings in town. Piles will support the gym from underneath in the event the foundation gives out. Stair towers at the gym\u2019s corners will provide quick access to the roof, where students and residents can wait for the high waters to recede.<\/p>\n Not only will the shelter potentially \u201csave the lives of school kids\u201d says Walsh, it could also protect anyone else who could make it to the school in time. \u201cIt\u2019s a real public benefit,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n But at an estimated cost of US $13-million, the shelter is \u201ca pretty significant gesture\u201d for a tiny city\u00a0with little industry, says Walsh.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a gesture that\u2019s been difficult for other communities\u00a0to make, if the example of Cannon Beach, Oregon,\u00a0is any indication. Just 160 kilometers south of Westport,\u00a0Cannon Beach\u00a0has been trying\u2014and failing\u2014to get the money to build a tsunami shelter for at least five years, says city planner Mark Barnes.<\/p>\n Cannon Beach is a long, narrow beachfront city just blocks from the Oregon Coast Highway<\/a>. Almost the entire city, including the city hall and most\u00a0road and water infrastructure, is in the tsunami inundation zone. That means the shelter will need to be built far from the\u00a0center, requiring new roads and making construction that much more costly.<\/p>\n The Cannon Beach city council is actively prioritizing a tsunami shelter, Barnes says, but as of now there\u2019s no plan for how to pay for it. Plans for construction are \u201cyears off,\u201d Barnes says. It\u2019s fingers crossed that the next big earthquake is years off, too.<\/p>\n