Construction workers and vehicles move around the Capitol. Gov. Kotek’s order to earthquake-proof state buildings comes as the state Capitol nears the end of a years-long, $598 million seismic retrofitting project. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Most new state-owned buildings will need to be earthquake-proof, and by 2060, all buildings owned or leased by the state for executive branch agencies will need to make earthquake-safety upgrades or be replaced under an executive order Gov. Tina Kotek signed Monday.
Kotek described the purpose of her order as making state buildings resilient to “The Big One” so they can be used as staging areas and workspaces for emergency response and recovery efforts. The “Big One” refers to an anticipated massive Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, which last hit the coasts of Oregon, Washington and California in 1700. The fault produces major earthquakes roughly every 300 to 500 years.
“When a devastating earthquake hits Oregon, we need to be able to show up for Oregonians,” Kotek said in a statement. “State employees are the backbone of emergency response, and they need safe places as they help families and communities recover. We cannot waver from this responsibility.”
Seismologists project a 16% to 22% chance that the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake will hit Oregon in the next 50 years, according to the governor’s office. That earthquake would reach a magnitude of 8.7 or more. There is a 42% chance in the next 50 years that a partial rupture of the Cascadia fault will result in a 7.4 magnitude earthquake or more, according to the governor’s office.
The Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960 is the biggest ever recorded at a magnitude of 9.5. The Great Alaska earthquake in 1964 reached a magnitude 9.2. The Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake could reach a magnitude similar to that of the Great Chilean Earthquake, between 8.0 and 9.0, according to seismologists.
“An M8-9 earthquake in our future is inevitable, and seismically sound state buildings will be crucial. This is the kind of proactive action Oregon needs,” said Chris Goldfinger, a professor emeritus at the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, in a statement.
Under the governor’s order, the state needs to immediately make earthquake-proof new buildings over 10,000 square feet — or about a quarter of a football field. Earthquake-proofing more than a dozen state agency buildings, such as the Oregon Department of Education building in Salem, or the Bureau of Labor and Industries in Portland, will be ongoing through 2060. Priority will be to retrofit buildings over 50,000 square feet and buildings that currently house first responder agencies and that are in strategic locations, according to the executive order. The state legislature would need to approve funding for such retrofits.
Kotek’s order comes as the state Capitol nears the end of a years-long, $598 million seismic retrofitting project. Workers dug below the foundation of the nearly 90-year-old capitol to place it on flexible discs that will ensure the building stays put while the earth around it moves.
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