"We live in a earthquake-prone part of the world" (Jack Bog's Blog)

Mayor Creepy is trying to capitalize on the latest earthquakes around the Pacific Rim -- and make the case for his and Fireman Randy's latest needless pork project, under which they'll be able to telephone and Tweet to you after the Big One. "Hello, this is Mayor Sam Adams, and there's been a 8.4 earthquake under Portland. There's no electricity or water anywhere and the phones aren't working. Hundreds of people are dead, and half the city is homeless. But you elderly people whose iPhones are charged up, this is to let you know that something has happened."

All this folderol started after the suspicious Thanksgiving boil-water alert. As far as earthquakes are concerned, Portland should be spending its money on true preparedness as opposed to more vanity projects from the Sam-Rand twins. If there's a serious seismic event around here, Creepy will be calling a lot of dead people. Portland is so unprepared for an earthquake, it's hard to figure out where to start. How about a sturdy, modern bridge over the Willamette -- say, in Sellwood?

Comments (8)

It won't be long before the Sam-Rand twins start disguising their campaign twits as "service alerts."

Open manhole on Burnside/Couch couplet. @MayorSamAdams is on his way to fill it. Stay tuned for photo-op.

Posted by Garage Wine | April 6, 2010 11:21 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweedledum_and_Tweedledee

Posted by clinamen | April 6, 2010 11:28 AM

There is certainly a chance of having an earthquake here. Compared to actually quake prone places like SoCal, Japan, China, etc. it does seem a bit remote. I will not be interested in receiving a Twit if we have a quake. I will already be well aware of the problem. Even old people like me can figure this one out.

Posted by Dean | April 6, 2010 11:32 AM

Tweets from the Twits.

Posted by tom | April 6, 2010 12:00 PM

What really gets me is that Scam Adams is acting like he came up with the idea of a text/email/phone alert system, but he actually didn't. Cities all over the US have been using these systems for years, including many in Oregon. Adams reminds me of Al Gore and his claims that he invented the internet.

Posted by Westside Guy | April 6, 2010 12:52 PM

"who in the Sam hill is tweeting me"

Posted by kathe w. | April 6, 2010 2:57 PM

The difference, Westside Guy, is that Al Gore never said that he invented the Internet. Sam, though, would probably take credit for yelling "Let There Be Light."

Besides, truth be told, earthquakes in Portland don't worry me. It's a potential eruption from Mount Hood that scares the hell out of me. I used to work for the Bureau of Land Management in SW, and I had lots of interesting conversations with the geologists about Portland's complete and utter lack of preparation if Hood suddenly became an active volcano. One of our conference rooms was wallpapered with a beautiful satellite photo of Portland and the lands around Mount Hood, and I noticed two big pyroclastic flows coming from Hood just to the north and south of the city, with a big fat channel leading directly from the mountain to downtown Portland. It goes off, and you're looking at a pyroclastic flow that buries the city under a few million tons of red-hot rock, with the Tualatin Mountains acting like the back of a bathtub to constrain the flow. And yet people keep telling me that they couldn't move to Texas because of the possibilities of tornadoes.

Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | April 6, 2010 4:20 PM

That would be a poetic end to Portland, in a very northwest grunge sort of way, Texas. Like that song about Frances Farmer having her revenge on Seattle, James Chasse will have his revenge on Portland. "He'll come back as fire, and burn all the liars, leave a blanket of ash on the ground."

Posted by yn | April 8, 2010 10:57 AM

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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

"We live in a earthquake-prone part of the world"

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