renovations

Three years after tornadoes ripped through a high school, middle school and elementary school in the small rural community of Chapman, Kan., the school district's restoration project, which includes a new art building, will be completed January 2012. The high school, middle school, elementary school and gym, which opened in January 2011, include hallways without glass in the ceilings and stronger doors. The middle school has a safe room below ground that is designed as a tornado shelter.

The "Big One" is coming, said Chris Goldfinger, professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, at the American Institute of Architects' Portland conference in late June. Goldfinger, a renowned expert on earthquakes, believes that within the next 50 years, Washington and northern Oregon face a 10 to 15 percent chance of an offshore quake that could cause a powerful tsunami, and southern Oregon has more than a 37 percent chance of experiencing a magnitude 8 or higher earthquake.