Coastal Airport Sites Vulnerable
"Most of the airports in Western Oregon are at sea level so they are going to be underwater or damaged by the earthquake or both," said Goldfinger, who studied 14 airports from Astoria to Brookings.
The U.S. Coast Guard stations in Astoria and North Bend are at sea level and would probably be underwater. "Each of those facilities has the only life-saving air assets on the coast," he said.
Goldfinger, an associate professor of marine geology who is also a pilot, said he decided to do the study after attending a legislative subcommittee meeting on emergency preparedness and realizing that many state officials don't understand how inaccessible the coast might be.
At 10 to 15 feet elevation, Astoria's runways might survive a tsunami, but the material underneath the runways is so soft that it probably would liquefy, putting the airport out of commission. In North Bend, the airport, which is the only one on the coast with commercial flights, is right on the bay front, making it particularly vulnerable to earthquake and tsunami damage. Seaside's airport sits just a short distance from a salt water inlet.
Not all the coastal airports are so vulnerable. Newport's, for example, is built on a bluff so tsunami damage isn't an issue, and Goldfinger said he expects the rock formation it sits on to be fairly earthquake-resistant.
"It would be a good one to consider as a central point (for rescue efforts)," he said. "It has reasonably good survivability and already has a global positioning system. It's got a head start over the others."
Goldfinger would like to see other airports install GPS equipment, which would allow pilots to land if ground navigation aids were damaged in the earthquake. Strengthening the Coast Guard hangars to better withstand quakes might also offer some protection, he said.
But short of moving the airports, protecting the runways from tsunamis is nearly impossible, though raised pads could allow helicopters to land even when runways are unusable, he said.
The Oregonian
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