So, this screenshot of flew across our timeline today. It has to be a fake, right? Alas, no . . . it’s 100% legit and the NAACP does say that newly-mandated earthquake warning signs in Portland, Ore. are racist:
Damn racist white people and their damn…
*shuffles cards*
"earthquake warnings." pic.twitter.com/q6GwvxqoOc
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 5, 2019
Here’s the underlying story from the AP. TL;DR? The signs will go up in predominately African-American neighborhoods and will make those properties harder to sell:
— Battle Beagle (@HarmlessYardDog) March 4, 2019
But the science, as they say, is pretty much settled on this one. From the AP:
Experts say Portland is at risk because there’s close to a 50 percent chance of a giant earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Oregon coast in the next 50 years.
The warning signs and a requirement that building owners must file a record of compliance is “really just a disclosure,” said Alex Cousins, a spokesman for the city Bureau of Development Services. “That’s the purpose behind it.”
The warning signs are to go up on public buildings this month, and on most other buildings by March 1. The warning on them says: “This is an unreinforced masonry building. Unreinforced masonry buildings may be unsafe in the event of a major earthquake.”
And from last year, The Oregonian did a piece on a new report that showed just how bad things could be from a quake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone, hence the new signs:
For the first time in 20 years, Portlanders are getting a detailed look at the damage that will be caused by a catastrophe we all know is coming — a major earthquake striking the metro area — and the prospects are grim.
The assessment comes in a new report published Thursday by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and includes some stark numbers. In a worst-case scenario, the metro area could see more than $80 billion in building damage, tens of thousands of people wounded or killed and more than 250,000 people facing long-term displacement.
“The damage estimates are significantly higher than those given in previously published studies for the area,” the report states, as it uses better data about the buildings in the metro area, many of which were built using unreinforced masonry. The authors of the report stressed that the document should not be seen as an end-goal, but “as a platform for counties, jurisdictions, and communities to better understand their needs to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a major earthquake.”
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Related:
Racism FTW! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez applauds Rashida Tlaib's 'total bravery' in calling Lynne Patton a 'prop' https://t.co/JneCU9gtM0
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 28, 2019
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