Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and Dark Horse Comics Team Up to Teach Tsunami Preparedness

Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management and Dark Horse Comics team up to prepare for the Great Oregon ShakeOut on October 20 and introduce Without Warning: Tsunami, a new comic touting tsunami preparedness. The 16-page comic strip sequence chronicles a mother/daughter camping trip on the Oregon coast when an earthquake and resulting tsunami strike. The duo stays safe and helps others in danger.

Without Warning: Tsunami is the second time that the partners have come together to collaborate on bringing preparedness messaging to youth. In 2013, OEM’s Geologic Hazards Program Coordinator Althea Rizzo approached Dark Horse with a proposal. An avid comic book fan herself, Rizzo knew that it was a good way to reach a new target audience. In August 2014, Without Warning was released, telling a story of an Oregon teen who reunites with her family after a major Cascadia Earthquake.

“The events in Tohoku, Japan in 2011 brought new awareness to the reality of what could happen in Oregon in the aftermath of a Cascadia quake,” said Rizzo. “The first Without Warning comic helped to educate young people about what to do in the aftermath of a high-magnitude earthquake. This second comic about tsunamis is a logical follow up and story continuation.”

Rizzo came up with both stories which were scripted and illustrated by Dark Horse team members Jeremy Barlow and David Hahn.

Oregon is located in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 600-hundred mile earthquake fault stretching from offshore Northern California to Southern British Columbia.  According to scientists and other experts, a large 9.0 or higher earthquake could strike Oregon at any time.

“Dark Horse is proud to support emergency preparedness and Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management with the Without Warning: Tsunami comic,” said Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics. “We enjoy partnering with an organization dedicated to making Oregon’s residents safe and prepared for a natural disaster, and are proud to contribute our talents and resources to the cause.”