In an effort to bolster community resilience and preparedness, residents of Capitol Hill gathered for a neighborhood emergency drill Sunday organized by the North Capitol Hill Emergency Hub.
The event is part of volunteer-run efforts across the city trying to form a patchwork but still strong network of community plans and resources for how to keep neighborhoods safe and working when natural disasters and emergencies strike and people need to depend on each other.
The event, held in a Seventh Day Adventist Church’s parking lot at 13th and E Aloha, aimed to simulate the response to a major disaster when conventional communication channels might be down. Jessica Closson is the volunteer manager for the North Capitol Hill Hub.
“We are a group of neighbor volunteers who set up at our hub location and we practice how we would respond if there was a major disaster when all communications are down,” Closson said. “We have processes we are always trying to improve to make our response effective, so we practice and make sure we learn how to do the best job.” Continue reading