News from the Oregon Hazards Lab

The fall 2025 newsletter from the Oregon Hazards Lab provides important updates about the lab’s leadership, organization, and funding. We also recap the summer field season and share upcoming community events for the Great Oregon ShakeOut.

Oregon sits atop the Cascadia Subduction Zone and all University of Oregon campuses could be impacted by a major earthquake on this 620-mile fault. The Great ShakeOut earthquake drill on October 16 gives you an opportunity to practice how to protect yourself during an earthquake. Learn about preparedness resources on the University of Oregon campus.

Community lifelines can use ShakeAlert earthquake early warning data to mitigate damage and enhance situational awareness. This webinar, hosted by the Cascadia Lifelines Program on October 23, will describe how public transit agencies and water-wastewater utilities can use ShakeAlert-powered technology to automatically stop trains, slow pumps, and close valves upon earthquake detection.

October 16 is ShakeOut – the world’s largest earthquake drill! ShakeOut happens on the third Thursday of October every year. It is an annual opportunity to practice how to protect yourself during an earthquake. As soon as you feel shaking or get an earthquake early warning alert, you should Drop, Cover, and Hold On! OHAZ is partnering with several other University of Oregon programs to host a series of events on campus during ShakeOut week.

Fire is a complex, dynamic phenomenon—meeting its challenge requires multidisciplinary approaches and collaborative engagements of community, agency, and scholarly resources. The University of Oregon, a leading research university, is at the forefront of building societal resilience, creating critical knowledge, and developing cutting-edge approaches to help mitigate, prevent, and better understand the effects of wildfire.

University of Oregon’s Oregon Hazard Lab remains a resource for firefighters when it comes to detecting fast-spreading fires in remote areas, offering dozens of cameras around the state to help officials monitor emergency situations. The lab originally started off as a seismic monitoring lab. Across the state they have seismic monitoring stations and then added wildfire detection cameras in 2018.