Tsunami Threat Could Catch Northwest off Guard

CANNON BEACH, Ore. (AP) — After a magnitude 9 quake hit Japan more than two weeks ago, scientists and emergency planners in the Pacific Northwest shuddered.

They've known for years that a quake and tsunami just as powerful could come at any time from a fault about 50 miles offshore.

And they knew that despite new sirens and evacuation drills in many coastal communities, the Pacific Northwest isn't as well prepared as Japan was.

Among the catch-up efforts is one in Cannon Beach on Oregon's north coast. The idea is to rebuild the City Hall raised on 14-foot columns so tsunamis could wash underneath.

But the big problem in Cannon Beach and elsewhere along the Northwest coast is money — governments at all levels don't have much to put into that kind of tsunami preparation.