Posted on 04/13/2015 1:37:36 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - About 5,500 more people could survive a major tsunami hitting the Pacific Northwest if they just walk a little faster to higher ground after roads are knocked out, a new study shows.
The report published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at 73 communities along 700 miles of coastline in Oregon, Washington and Northern California. The area is considered most at risk from the next major earthquake and tsunami in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where two plates of the Earth's crust come together miles off the coast.
Emergency preparedness experts generally agree that after the quake and tsunami, most roads will be too damaged for driving, so people will have to walk to safety.
Geographers estimated 21,562 residents would not make it to safety if they walk slowly - at about 2.5 mph. But if they walk faster, at about 3.5 mph, the death toll drops to 15,970. About 70 percent of them would be in Washington, nearly 30 percent in Oregon and only 4 percent in California.
The study said people working or staying at motels in the tsunami area also will be at risk, but it didn't say how many. It also noted where communities have dependent-care facilities, where residents might have trouble walking.
Lead author Nathan Wood, a geographer for the U.S. Geological Survey in Portland, Oregon, said the findings show tsunami risks are a public health issue as well as an emergency preparedness issue. Promoting healthy lifestyles that help people walk faster would save lives.
Wood added the study provides the most detailed look yet at tsunami risks, and should help in planning evacuation strategies and educating the public.
(Excerpt) Read more at whdh.com ...
Or they could learn to surf better...
Walk fast! Walk fast for your lives!
and how many dollars did this study cost us??
Well played!
lol
My first thought, as well.
I'd hate to see the previous reports if this one is the most thoughtful.
But what about the people who are already on high ground...shouldn’t they walk slower?
And if a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass hoppin.
I have GOT to get myself a federal grant to do an irrelevant study that draws stupidly obvious conclusions.
Duck and cover would save even more lives in a nuclear blast, and people mock the heck out of it for some reason.
Either this is from the Onion, or more of OUR money just went down the rabbit hole...
Id be terribly embarassed to be asking for gunds for any such sort of “study”.
how may have bikes? skateboards?
I’m certain that there are another several thousand dollars that could be... be spent here...
And how much money did they spend trying to figure this out?
I figure these are the same people that spend millions trying to figure out why is ice cold and coffee hot.
Who remembers the surfer in “Lucifer’s Hammer”?
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