By air and bicycle, Northwest civilian pilots and cyclists train to deliver aid after ‘The Big One’

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A massive regional earthquake relief rehearsal was supposed to take place next week until the ongoing pandemic forced its cancellation. The omitted Cascadia Rising exercise would have had more than 22,000 participants—mostly American soldiers, sailors and airmen as well as state, local and tribal emergency planners. Some smaller exercises will take place this weekend and the following day featuring civilian volunteers who will demonstrate unusual ways aid can reach earthquake survivors in the Pacific Northwest.

On Saturday, June 11, 40 to 50 riders of cargo bikes will compete in a disaster relief drill in Portland. The following weekend, June 18, more than 100 private pilots from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia will soar into the skies transporting food from one airport to another in another mock earthquake relief effort.

Drilling scenarios include a full rupture of the magnitude 9.0 of the Cascadia offshore earthquake fault extending from Vancouver Island to Northern California – also known as “The Big One”. This is causing widespread devastation west of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington State. The highways to the east, north and south are cut off.

Pilots and cyclists separately will take to the air and the streets this month to practice delivering relief supplies after a devastating earthquake.

Clallam County DART, 2019 (left) / Sarah Harrington, 2016 Disaster Relief Trials (right)

In this worst-case scenario, help will come from above, said Skye Terry, Northwest Regional Director of the Volunteer Air Corps of Emergency. Terry likened his organization’s one-day exercise on June 18 to the “Air Berlin effort.”

“Another analogy would be the leap of China and Burma in World War II,” Terry said in an interview. “Loss the wild way. All you have is air to supply and sustain everything.”

Terry said private pilots are ready to go into the hack, likely along with the National Guard when the real Big One happens. The sea fault was last ruptured in January 1700, creating a tsunami that reached across the Pacific Ocean into Japan. Cascadia mega earthquakes typically occur every 250 to 800 years. This places the well presently within the return window.

The aerial relief exercise, dubbed Thunder Run, will begin with private pilots flying from Walla Walla, Washington, and Langley, British Columbia, where food boxes are stored for distribution in western Washington and Oregon.

“The way we look at Walla Walla is that it is the epicenter of an out-of-influence area for the general aviation response,” said Terry, who previously served as a communications operator in the U.S. Army. “This is the aircraft carrier located just outside the battle zone that provides support in the battle, but the aircraft can come back and bring back resources and still have all the normal communication with the outside world.”

But wait, aren’t destination airports like Renton, Bellingham, Hockey, Chilton, Port Angeles in Washington, Aurora, Albany, and Creswell in Oregon wrecked and unusable after the Big One? Terry replied that the backbone of the special airlift would be the small Cessnas, Bonanzas, Moniz, and Piper.

“We don’t necessarily have to use an airport,” Terry said. “We could use a stretch of Highway 101 or I-5 or any long stretch of two lanes. So, we’re not completely dependent on all the airports staying.”

Event organizers collected nearly 60,000 pounds of packaged food for this one-day workout. Volunteer pilots, amateur radio operators and ground crews at destinations including from the Civil Aviation Patrol will deliver shipments to food banks to simulate aid delivery to an earthquake-stricken area.

Another goal, Terry said, is to demonstrate general aviation capabilities to state and federal authorities and to create confidence. He has caught the attention of the Washington State Department of Emergency Management, where Robert Ezell serves as manager.

“When our state suffers the anticipated Cascadia earthquake and tsunami, it will take all the resources we have at our disposal to provide the assistance our communities need,” Ezell told Public Radio by email. “Volunteers will be a necessity, and we are constantly looking at how to incorporate them into our response.”

Cargo bikes to the rescue too

Beyond air relief drills, cyclists in Portland will practice how to distribute disaster relief on two wheels. Not just any two wheels—on powerful cargo bikes, some are capable of lifting up to 200 pounds. The event’s co-founder, Mike Cobb, said the cargo bikes are ideal for airlifting supplies over the last mile to recipients in neighborhoods.

“There might be 3,000 or 5,000 cargo cyclists in Portland,” Cobb said. “You can bet a good portion of those people are going to want to help.” “So, we will work on improving a system for deploying willing and able motorcyclists.”

This will be the sixth edition in Portland of what is known as the Disaster Relief Trials. Previously, there were normal cycling events in Seattle, Bend, and Eugene. Cobb says the workouts take the form of a friendly competition. Cyclists must visit seven checkpoints during Saturday’s drills, pick up goods along the way and climb obstacles designated to mimic earthquake debris, including a one-meter-high barrier.

“Preparation doesn’t have to be rigorous, stressful, and boring,” Cobb said. “If it’s all of those things, you’re going to get less citizen participation.”

Cobb explained that he and his organizing partners have coordinated with the Portland Office of Emergency Management so that the cargo bike competition is a realistic extension of neighborhood disaster relief plans. The office is helping to promote this event.

If you don’t own a small plane or cargo bike, there are other ways to be inspired to prepare for the Big One. The start and finish line for the 2022 Disaster Relief Trials in Colley Park, northeast Portland, will simultaneously be the stage for the Resilience Fair on June 11. Manzanita will host its own Emergency Preparedness Exhibition on June 16. In coastal Lincoln County, Oregon, communities from Deboy Bay, Newport and Lincoln City are also conducting volunteer-intensive disaster drills in the coming days.

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