
by Thia Bell, KJ7CNH
At Jerry’s Home Improvement Center’s safety day, October 8, 2022, both booths, CERT and EmComm, appeared to be fielding a steady stream of visiting families, kids and other curious responders.
The wildfire smoke seemed to hug the hills or at least was more visible there, and more people were wearing masks than I’ve seen lately, so it’s a good reminder those big particulates are still out there.
Meanwhile it is rather surprising how many people throughout Eugene, and south to Drain, felt the 4.4 quake Friday 40 mi north, or about 14 mi NE of Sweet Home. Although I was awake at 5:52 am, I did not feel a thing! Perhaps it is fortunate it did not reach the 4.5 threshold to trigger the Shake Alert warning system to send us ducking for cover. The proximity to the large Green Peter Dam and reservoir on the Santiam still seems a concern.
Coincidentally, Ready Friendly is holding a virtual tabletop evacuation discussion in a mock dam breach scenario after a simulated earthquake 10/20, the evening of the Great ShakeOut. More info and zoom link at www.friendlyareaneighbors.org.
Ready NW Eugene is following this on Nov 14 with a Dam Safety presentation by the US Army Corps of Engineers with lots of Q&A to find out more about the current status and risks of the Willamette River dams in our watershed.
Extra-large solar flares are said to be triggering M4.0s that could precede larger ones in next several days, in one theory. Or full moon in others. Of course, staying alert with batteries charged never hurts.