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Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick is serious about the great Cascadia subduction zone earthquake that's supposed to happen any old minute now.
Like, so serious that he's having his house bolted down while he's on vacation.
Novick sent this message to media Wednesday:
"This falls into the category of 'I feel awkward talking about something I'm doing personally as a news item but I also feel I should offer up every possible news hook to spread the earthquake preparedness message': Rachel and I are having our house bolted to its foundation next week while we're on vacation."
He says the cost will be about $4,000, and adds that some 50,000 to 100,000 houses in the city aren't bolted to their foundations.
Novick made bolting down Portland houses a priority as soon as he joined City Council this year, and was soon named commissioner in charge of the Bureau of Emergency Management. He estimates securing 50,000 houses will cost $170 million.
"The ability of the city to survive an earthquake will depend, in part, on getting that number up," Novick writes. "Not everyone can afford $4,000, of course, but some of us can."
WWeek 2015