The Really Big One was a scary reminder of how vulnerable Seattle is to not one, but two disastrous earthquake scenarios. City Council members recently asked the Seattle Office of Emergency Management to run down what exactly we’re doing to prepare for them.
A couple weeks back, OEM director Barb Graff laid out the city’s recent preparedness efforts. Among the most notable changes over the past two years was OEM has shifted its advice to being prepared for three days to “a more realistic” 7-10 days. Kits should include on gallon of water per person per day, food, a light source, and a first aid kit.
OEM also directly trains and facilitates training for emergency preparedness. According to Graff OED has:
- Trained 713 people in disaster skills
- Delivered Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare (SNAP) programs to nearly 4,300 people
- Trained 20 Community Safety Ambassadors who teach preparedness to their own cultural communities
- Formed 18 new “hubs” (more than 50 in place now) where people gather to help or be helped
Unfortunately, Capitol Hill lags behind with no active hubs or SNAP groups mostly due to a lack of involvement, OEM’s community planning organizer Debbie Goetz told CHS earlier this year. While Capitol Hill has three designated hubs where people are supposed to gather after a natural disaster, there are no point groups tied to those locations.
In June, the group Capitol Hill Prepares announced it would dissolving its earthquake preparedness activities at the Cal Anderson Park hub and shutting down its website and social media accounts, which were the most active in the neighborhood.
OEM has also used Federal Emergency Management Agency grants for projects like seismic retrofitting on low income homes and a public awareness campaign about unreinforced masonry buildings.
Over the past two years, the agency has activated the City’s Emergency Operations Center 15 times. The agency is also preparing for a multi-day preparedness exercise in June 2016. Cascade Rising will include local, state, and federal agencies in Western Washington and Oregon.
In August, the city launched AlertSeattle — a service that gives users real time updates in emergency situations through text messages and email. So far, 16,000 people have signed up.
OEM hosts a “Preparing for the Big One” class. The next open class is on November 17th at the Green Lake public library.
