The biggest coastal earthquake drill in Oregon history is set to take place in Newport on Wednesday, according to officials.
During the installation of evacuation assembly point equipment at Newport Municipal Airport, state legislators, representatives from Lincoln County, and staff from the Office of Resilience and Emergency Management of the Oregon Department of Human Services will be present.
In the near term, evacuation assembly points serve as gathering places for people in case of crises, such as an earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
In the event of a natural disaster, these evacuation assembly centers offer places for people to congregate and obtain food, water, tents, and medical supplies.
The emergency management office has set up two such locations along the Oregon coast: the Lincoln County evacuation assembly point at the Newport Municipal Airport and the Oregon Coast.
The Tillamook Municipal Airport is home to the first. Later this year, a third is scheduled for the coast of southern Oregon.
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Community leaders will receive training from Oregon emergency personnel on how to put up the evacuation assembly point equipment as part of the readiness exercise.
Because coastal locations are more likely to be cut off from emergency responders in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, the government has made these supplies available to coastal cities like Newport.
