Benton County Emergency Management plans to host Cascadia Rising earthquake preparedness training on Wednesday, June 15 in Corvallis.
Cascadia Rising is a national-level exercise with thousands of participants across the west coasts of the United States and Canada.
Sixty-two individuals from various entities are scheduled to participate in the exercise, including the city of Philomath, Benton County, city of Corvallis, Linn County, city of Albany, Oregon State University and volunteer community emergency response teams from Corvallis and Benton County.
The training will provide participants with an opportunity to assess capabilities, plans, policies and procedures for an earthquake of any size, organizers said.
“It will focus on decision-making, communication and coordination with other jurisdictions/organizations to simulate response operations within the county’s Emergency Operations Center,” according to a press release on the training. “The expected outcome of the exercise is for participants to demonstrate proficiency in multi-agency implementation of EOC planning and execution.”
Organizers believe that the Cascadia Rising exercise will further prepare Benton County and its surrounding jurisdictions for preparedness and response specific to the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake that historically occurs in the Pacific Northwest.