Training Exercise Yields 450 Miles of Vulnerability Information

The Takeaway: Participants, led by Digital Coast and South Slough Research Reserve trainers, identified 90-plus community assets at risk from climate change and tsunamis.

Oregon’s coastal managers not only must prepare for sea level rise but also for the potentially catastrophic scenario of an earthquake and resulting tsunami. New mapped information identifies more than 90 community assets along shorelines in nine counties that could be impacted by climate change—courtesy of a local “Adaptation Planning for Coastal Communities” training from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management.

During the course exercise, participants identified vulnerable bridges, tunnels, causeways, and highway junctions—many near estuaries and also in high-risk flooding, landslide, and tsunami evacuation zones. They considered transportation breakdowns, food insecurity, threats to public health, reduced emergency services and access, and risks to natural environments. The South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve collected the information and presented it to the Oregon Coastal Management Program.

Trainers from the Digital Coast and South Slough Reserve led this course. The participants represented a “coastal brain trust” of estuary programs, coastal counties and cities, tribal nations, the state coastal program, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2018)

More Information: Adaptation Planning for Coastal Communities

Partners: Oregon Coast Community College, Oregon State University Extension Service, Oregon's Partnership for Disaster Resilience, Oregon Coastal Management Program, South Slough Reserve

Fast Fact: Did you know that by 2050, up to $106 billion worth coastal property will likely be below sea level (if we continue on our current path)? For more statistics related to this story, check out Climate Change Predictions and Hurricane Costs.