Trio of coastal Washington schools secure money to move out of tsunami zone
Teachers and staff in low-lying schools along the Pacific Northwest coast face an unusual extra responsibility alongside educators’ usual duties: can they herd the entire student body to higher ground on foot in 20 minutes or less to escape a tsunami?
It’s a daunting challenge with the highest possible stakes should an offshore earthquake unleash a wall of incoming seawater. The last megathrust earthquake to hit the region was in 1700, and the Northwest is now in the window for the next magnitude 9.0+ Cascadia fault quake and tsunami.
“It’s something that’s always on your mind. You try not to let this take over,” said North Beach School District Superintendent Richard Zimmerman.
The Washington Legislature allocated $151.5 million in the recently passed state construction budget to relocate three coastal schools out of the tsunami zone and build a refuge tower at a fourth. Zimmerman’s district is one of the beneficiaries, along with the Taholah and Cape Flattery school districts.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/06/12/trio-of-coastal-washington-schools-secure-money-to-move-out-of-tsunami-zone/