By:Jenna Beresheim News Editor
In mid-December last year, Seaside High School student Taylor Barnes created a GoFundMe page titled “Don’t Catch This Wave” to fundraise the relocation of an entire school system.
“The purpose of this project will be to relocate our schools within the seaside school district outside the tsunami zone that is earthquake resistant,” states the GoFundMe page.
During the summer of 2015, the New Yorker published an earthquake article titled “The Really Big One.”
The odds of this earthquake happening within the next 50 years are one in three, according to the article.
This article reported a series of earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 8.7 to 9.2 happening along the Cascadia subduction zone and the San Andreas fault line, with the latter of the two running nearly the entire length of the state of California.
The earthquakes would affect the majority of the Pacific Northwest, with tsunamis predicted as a side effect to such massive fluxes to the earth.
“The northwest edge of the continent will drop by as much as 6 feet and rebound 30 to 100 feet to the west,” reports the Oregonian.
According to the Oregonian, the combination of these two powerful natural disasters would “kill thousands and decimate stretches of coastline west of Interstate 5.”
“Children will be trapped in schools ranging from Gearhart to Seaside,” continues the Oregonian.
“Because of this daunting reality, we as students have taken initiative to start a campaign to raise awareness for this inevitable disaster with our main focus being to relocate our schools (3 of which, in our school district, are located in the tsunami zone),” writes Barnes on the fundraising page.
The New Yorker article reports that the predicted mega-quake will send an enormous tsunami ashore “in a 700-mile liquid wall that will reach the Northwest coast, on average, 15 minutes after the earthquake begins.”
This leaves very little time for warning to take place and evacuation to occur.
“To survive, the 71,000 residents of Cascadia’s tsunami inundation zone would have to reach high ground during the narrow window between the quake and the waves,” reports the Oregonian.
Those who are differently abled, elderly, or simply visiting the town for the day risk the possibility of being left behind with such a tiny time frame for evacuation.
The Oregon State University Wave Lab even created a simulation of what the tsunami would look like as it tore through the town of Seaside. The two-minute video can be found at bit.ly/1RECKCE.
“The price tag to relocate our schools is $128 million dollars. Bond measures have been on ballots before in our town, but have been unsuccessful. So, we are now taking matters into our own hand as students,” states the collective GoFundMe page.
To this date, the GoFundMe page has raised $2,750 of the predicted $200 million. Thirty-four people have donated to the cause in just one month, with contributions ranging from $10 to $1000.
“With your help not only can we reach our goals of this campaign, but we can also go above and beyond with other preparations and save thousands of lives in the event of this disaster,” coaxes the fundraising page.
The page has been shared over 1,300 times and local news stations, such as the Daily Astorian, are taking part in promoting the fundraiser.
“The earthquake is something we have known about since we were little kids; we prepare for the eventual disaster in our schools but conducting earthquake and Tsunami drills, but there is only so much we can do,” reads the fundraising page.
To donate to this cause, show support, or share to increase visibility, visit the GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/cascadiaevent
