PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — People who live in this region understand that, at some point, a major earthquake will rock the area. Most of the time, talk about damage is centered on the major infrastructure and bridges that connect various parts of Portland.
But the 20,000 people who are residents on the St. Johns Peninsula in North Portland are saying loud and clear, “We are not a sacrifice zone.”
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Donna Cohen, who founded the St. Johns Peninsula Emergency Route group , led the dozens of people who gathered Sunday to shine a spotlight on the fact they would be cut off and stranded from even a small quake.
“We are connected to Portland by 4 small bridges that are over 110 years old,” Cohen told KOIN 6 News. “PBOT has evaluated these bridges and told us they are all going to collapse even in a minor earthquake. In fact, they may collapse before. One of them is already weight restricted.”
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She said the other sides of the peninsula will liquefy, damaging all the structures and roads. Their only way out would be over Columbia Boulevard or Lombard Avenue. But there’s a problem.
“They are not emergency routes because they go over the railroad cut. The bridges will collapse, we will be trapped, blocking about 20,000 people, workers and residents in the Rivergate Industrial area who will be trapped here after the earthquake.”
But it gets worse, Cohen said…