Seaside students raise money for tsunami safe school

SEASIDE, Ore. (KOIN) — Seaside High School students are trying to raise enough money to build a new high school on higher ground. They want the new school to be safe from a tsunami.

Associated Student Body President Taylor Barnes says a group of students has prepared a presentation showing how important relocating the school is, due to its proximity to the ocean and the imminent cascadia earthquake.

“A lot of the people will probably not make it out of the building because it will not stand and a lot of people will be trapped and the water will come and people are going to be drowning alive,” says Barnes.

Barnes says the goal of the project is to raise awareness and money to better prepare the region for a disaster. The money raised will relocate three schools, including the high school.

Barnes and other students are doing major outreach with this project, including a partnership with Gresham High School. Gresham students are hosting a “Unity Week” where they will raise funds for the project.

The students have also set up a Go Fund Me account where they have raised nearly $550. They have a goal of $200 million.

Barnes knows it is unlikely they will raise all the money before he graduates but he says they are trying to provide the community a gift that will keep on giving.

“What impresses me about this, about our students effort, is they did this on their own. Since kindergarten they’ve been going through the drills. They know the risk,” says Superintendent Douglas C. Dougherty.

Dougherty hopes the legislature will eventually provide money to build new schools outside of the danger zone.

The students were inspired to act after a recent earthquake story in The New Yorker and after voters rejected a 2013 bond measure to upgrade the schools.