To Ocean Grove Residents

Emergency Planning—an important message

When the issue of some concentrated community effort with regard to improved emergency planning was raised at the annual membership meeting there was very minimal response.  Later, Henry Souza approached the board with a proposal to establish a framework for emergency planning and for a  tiered communication system—ranging from door –to-door and/or telephonic contact to family service radios (walkie-talkies) and amateur (ham) radios.  The board readily agreed to this proposal and gave a go-ahead.

Last week I attended a session at the Jefferson County Emergency Management Command Center at the Sheriff’s office in Port Hadlock.  I was quite impressed with their response to the tsunami watch that resulted from the Japanese earthquake.  The prediction models were amazingly accurate.  The earthquake occurred at 9:46 PM (all times are PDT).  Twelve minutes later the Command Center received an alert.  At 10:30 PM the tsunami center sent an alert that the tsunami would arrive at Neah Bay at 10:07 AM.  It arrived at 10:12 AM.  At 2:30 AM they predicted it would have an amplitude of 1.1 feet, which was exactly right.  Models indicated that it would take 90 minutes to reach Port Townsend—again an on-target  call.

At 3:48 AM all of the coastal counties (except Clallam, which really dropped the ball) were in a joint video conference with the state command center.  (Jefferson County has 700 families in a Pacific tsunami zone.)  In the early hours the Port Hadlock (county) center was in video contact with the Port Townsend command center and the developed the response plan—alert live-aboards in the marina, yellow tape the docks and a voluntary evacuation of the Admiralty Apartments, which sits on pilings above the waterfront.  There was minimal surge but significant current action at the waterline.

Although we don’t face tsunami danger in Ocean Grove, if and when the Cascadia Subduction Zone acts up there will be minimal warning for tsunamis on the coast.  The Cascadia rift last shook the area in 1700.  It produced major earthquakes, 9.0 or higher, on  at least seven occasions in 3,500 years.  Though recurrences are unpredictable, a return time of 400 to 600 years is likely.  A good portrayal and discussion at http://www.pnsn.org/HAZARDS/CASCADIA/cascadia_zone.html .  An earthquake is probably the biggest risk that we face.

All emergency preparation begins at home.  A three-day food and water supply (1 gallon per person/per day) is minimal.  A grab-and-go kit that can be loaded with medicines and important papers should be readily accessible.  A distant telephone contact should be established so that someone can collect family information in the case that family members are separated.  A NOAA alert radio is a worthwhile investment.  This is not the standard weather radio but one that remains silent until activated by NOAA for an emergency AWARENESS (no action required)/ WATCH (Possibility, continue to  monitor)/ADVISORY (probable impact)/Warning (likely widespread damage)

We will need volunteers to help with planning, to inventory skills and equipment possessed by residents, to identify special needs, to map propane and water shut-off points, to confirm the safety of neighbors, and to provide food and shelter, if necessary.

If you are willing to help at any level of this process please let me know and we can spend the summer getting everything in place.  We have trained three ham operators and have three radios in the community and we have a number of family service radios to distribute.  Other plans and needs will be determined by the planning group.

Here are a number of web sites that you familiarize yourself with:

http://www.jeffcoeoc.org/ Jefferson County Emergency Management (open the “preparedness information link”)

http://www.emergency-information.blogspot.com/ This site activates during an emergency watch.

http://www.emd.wa.gov/ The state emergency center.  Lots of good information

http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/rert/radnet-data-map.html The EPA radiation monitoring site

http://ptwc.weather.gov/ The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

http://www.ess.washington.edu/recenteqs/  Recent earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest.

(I made an emergency sites folder in my browser favorites file and have them all together there.)