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Along the coast Oregon Sea Grant has
been helping residents prepare for a major earthquake
and tsunami.
One way it does this is by teaching people
to create and use guided evacuation routes
modeled after a treasure hunt.
In these hunts, which are called quests,
walkers follow a map and a series of educational clues
about their surroundings to reach higher ground.
At the end they find a hidden box
that contains a guest book and a rubber stamp
to mark their accomplishments.
The aim is that by exploring these routes for fun
in their free time residents and visitors will later
know where to flee in the event of a tsunami.
At workshops in Astoria, Charleston, and Newport
Oregon Sea Grant's Cait Goodwin has taught people
how to create these evacuation routes.
Today's Tsunami Quest workshop involved lots of people
from the local community.
The idea was to bring the people together and talk about tsunami
preparedness, and what people need
to know when they come to visit the coast.
And then to use the quest format to share the information
with the public.
I think the most useful part of the day
was actually getting out and building
a mini version of a quest.
When I work with a group of high school students
later this spring, having the background information of how
the questions and the clues are developed
will help me direct my students better
when they start developing their own questions and clues
for the quest in our town.
In Newport, a tsunami evacuation quest
was created by local seventh graders.
It starts at Hatfield Marine Science Center
and leads walkers up Safe Haven Hill.
Quests, however, can be created not just for tsunami evacuation
routes, but simply to get people to explore the outdoors
and their communities.
These clue directed hunts, which can really be on any topic,
whether it's that cool old tree or the art deco architecture
or the cemetery with the historical pioneers.
And right now we're talking about taking that format
and using it to practice an evacuation where we
walk and talk about tsunamis.
Oregon Sea Grant brought the concept of quests
to Oregon in 2007.
Since then volunteers have created
about two dozen coastal quests.
They're compiled in a book that you can buy at bookstores
and other retailers.
To find locations of these stores
visit the Hatfield Marine Science Center's website
and search for quests.
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