You're downtown...when SHTF

[edison bulb]

You live on the East side. 1 hour later you're downtown at Pioneer Square buying a new iPod when SHTF. Let's say the fault line bursts and the bridges go down. What would you do to get back home?

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[aslinged]

Commandeer a canoe or other small vessel from one of the many many laying around at house boats, etc. and row across. Leave it for the next guy to use to go the other way. Another option would be to hit the True Value and borrow a chain saw, go down to the river and knock off about 6 feet of a pier. Float/paddle. Once on the other side. Walk. 3 hours total.

 

[dude young]

Assuming the quake destroyed all 13 bridges spanning the river, and rendering them completely impassable, even by foot...

If the S has truly H'ed the F and you are armed (because you should be) you go down to the marina and steal a boat to cross the river with. Get to the other side, hoof it home, pack your crap and go. It's time to start determining what values are important at the moment for your sole survival.

 

[Trailboss]

I would also head for the Columbia river where I would need to cross. Unlike the other enterprising folks, I would buy or barter or trade for a ride across the river. Then walk the rest of the way home and further assess how to proceed. If you think that folks with a boat or canoe or chainsaw are sitting around waiting to be victims, you have a surprise coming. I recon that some will resort to theft and will die as a result.

 

[mkwerx]

Be thankful I don't live on the east side - but then I'd be just as likely screwed. A quake big enough to knock out the bridges likely caused the west hills to slide into downtown, and onto hwy 26. Probably few, if any roads clear to get out of downtown, let alone over the hills. Tunnel would be a no-go. Try to get to hwy 30 and try Corn Pass, Logie Trail, or even if necessary, head waaaaaaaaaay out and take Pittsburg-Vernonia and hit 47, and come in from home the round-about back way. If I'm downtown - I'm working. Wouldn't typically be caught dead there otherwise. That means at the least I've got chains/straps and a winch to yard crap out of the roadway, if I can't simply drive around it.

I would try to find a vehicular path out of the area before I resorted to hoofing it. It's 27 miles from my house to downtown Portland. That's a long bubblegum walk and I'd rather not ditch a perfectly good truck if I didn't have to.

If I'm on the east side when crap happens and the bridges go down? Might trade a set of truck keys for a boat, canoe, float tube, or buoyant stick to get back home.

 

[Caveman Jim]

That would never happen to me because I do not go to Portland.....EVER......

 

[U201491]

That would never happen to me because I do not go to Portland.....EVER......

Yep nearest I get to "downtown Portland" is the VA Hosp and I get the hell out of there as quickly as possible at all times. No downtown anywhere for us. And where I live I can see just about everything by looking down and 360 deg. around

 

[Just Jim]

So if all the bridges across the rivers are down then all the overpasses would be down too? Would the dams on the Columbia break?

 

[mikeybuck]

And if Bonneville dam breaks, you will have 12-25 min before the water reaches i5.... before that happens I wouldn't want to be any place near north Portland or Vancouver.

If the North fork Lewis river dam busted, just merwin dam, it would flood woodland, and the i5 bridge. If merwin, Yale, and swift all busted, it would back the Columbia up and flood parts of st Helens Oregon.

 

[7SFCW4]

I think about downtown PDX scenarios a lot (I can't give much credence to an all bridges down scenario though) since I work there. With any luck, you would be able to get out of the downtown area proper, hopefully in your vehicle. Once in the burbs, it's all about what is in your day pack and in your head. If you were stuck downtown, same applies, in a few days it will be mostly devoid of the unprepared and you should be able to make your way out. A good tow chain or two will be essential in dragging cars out of your path. Standard METT-T stay calm, stay alert, be polite, that homeless guy probably knows a dozen places to hole up that you would overlook.

 

[Just Jim]

Just trying to get a complete picture with the questions. How many buildings would fall in a quake big enough to bring down all the bridges, 50%? Time of day it all happens? Weather? Am I with someone or driving my own rig? Am I in a building like a gunshow?

 

[The Heretic]

I work downtown, but I live on the west side - 30 miles away actually.

There are at least several bridges across rivers and creeks between work and home. Then there are all the overpasses. Then there is the parking garage I often park in, which is old and decaying - if I parked inside (I try to, but there often isn't room) instead of in the lot my car and GHB might be inaccessible.

Then there is the fact that I work in a multi-story building that was built well before any concern about earthquakes. Fortunately I now work on a floor that I don't have to use an elevator or stairwell to get out of the building, but I could still face a lot of difficulty getting out.

I would just do my best and take it on a case by case basis. That is all you can do.

Oh, and I would never live on the Portland eastside.

 

[Just Jim]

Did the gas mains rupture and start fires everywhere? Water lines break and flood low areas? Bull run reservoir break? Which neighborhood am I in?

 

[Wood Worker]

I guess I would look around to see if there was anyone who needed my help, and when all that was done, I would just fly home.
You see even in my bad dreams, I still have super powers.

 

[lazerblazer]

Yep nearest I get to "downtown Portland" is the VA Hosp and I get the hell out of there as quickly as possible at all times. No downtown anywhere for us. And where I live I can see just about everything by looking down and 365 deg. around

Just curious how do you get those extra five degrees of view?

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Just curious how do you get those extra five degrees of view?

Its when you turn around so fast you make an extra 5 degree rotation, true operational operators know this.

 

[Just Jim]

Yep nearest I get to "downtown Portland" is the VA Hosp and I get the hell out of there as quickly as possible at all times. No downtown anywhere for us. And where I live I can see just about everything by looking down and 365 deg. around

You get that 365 degree view in all 57 states?

 

[rick benjamin]

Things we know from previous incidents
Damage lessens, distance from epicenter
Bridges, buildings, overpasses fall
Ground moves breaks, breaking pipes, cables
Water sloshes (tsunami) ground liquifies subsides (liquifaction)

Things we don't know
Where, when

 

[Provincial]

One thing that most people don't factor into an earthquake scenario is the time of year. If a big quake happened in August, the damage would be much less than if one happened in December. This is because the soils saturate during the wet season, and shaking makes the saturated soil liquify. Portland is built on alluvial deposits of soil and gravel brought in by ancient floods. A wintertime quake would turn it all into quicksand. Now imagine that quicksand being vibrated with each shock and aftershock.

Google the Christchurch earthquake in New Zeland a few years ago. It was built on the same sort of geology as Portland.

 

[CoastRange57]

You live on the East side. 1 hour later you're downtown at Pioneer Square buying a new iPod when SHTF.

If that is the case, you probably stand on a street corner and cry like a little b hoping some one will come along and help you out.

Motor vehicle transportation will be impossible and creek/river/swamp crossings will be very problematic.

Going to ground with a good GHB will be the rule. Last time I saw ( pictures of) the hipsters standing in line to spend their trust fund money and coffee shop tips on new I pods, I think their back packs could carry them about one block until the first thug rolls them for it.