Emergency Preparedness: Survival of the Unfittest
by Kate GawfOctober 17th, 2005 at 19:44:23
I’ve long known of my aversion for chaos, blood, and violence, but somehow I thought that if it really came down to it, I’d rise above myself and commit heroic acts. But then, a year ago, I took Neighborhood Emergency Training, which is all about what to do in case of disaster. For seven Saturday mornings plus some preparation hours in between, my partner and I immersed ourselves in this topic. We learned about things like operating a fire extinguisher, search & rescue, and general preparedness; but mostly, I learned about myself. I am now liberated from delusions about what the fantasy action-hero-me would do in case of disaster and have moved on to practical visualizations about what the reality-me would do.
After the first session, in which we were shown geological diagrams and seismographic charts of why we expect an earthquake, there was only one logical conclusion: We’re out of here. The whole area is overdue for the Big One, and this ain’t no tabloid rumor. Anyone who stays west of the Cascades is absolutely nuts.
All my life I’ve mocked and derided entire populations who’ve chosen to build and live in zones of impending disaster and/or continual discomfort. The base of Mount Vesuvius? Minnesota? New Orleans? Come on now! But after earthquake school I realize that I am one of those people.
There’s this Juan de Fuca tectonic plate which has been gradually shoving itself under the North Atlantic plate on which we’re living – a project it’s been working on for millions of years. It dips under the North Atlantic place about 40 miles off the coast and the front edge is now at about the Cascade range. When it gets hung up on something, the pressure builds. The pattern has been that the pressure builds for increments of 300 to 500 years until finally something gives and the land buckles. Well, it’s been over 300 years since the last one, and here we sit like fools waiting for a continental whiplash that will beat any San-Andreas-fault nightmare all to hell.
In spite of the thoroughness of the presentation, backed up by all kinds of visuals and geological evidence, after less than a week I had talked myself back into staying here just like people do in those other precarious locations.
When I originally signed up for the training, there were some things I wanted to know. I had some questions, such as: What is the plan? Is there one plan, or are there many plans? Who else knows what the plan is? Are we all paying attention? What are really the right things to do? What should I not do?
It was at the final exercise – the day on which everything we’d learned came together in a simulated disaster splattered across the fireman training site out in NE Portland – that I recognized myself in the merciless mirror of truth as a person who tends to become cerebrally immobilized by the onslaught of chaos.
The first task at hand was to implement the lesson on Techniques for Removing Mashed Individuals from Under Debris and Fallen Building Parts. No problem – with a handy steel lever and a couple of buddies, I can practically hurl slabs of concrete. Too bad I was electrocuted within the first five minutes when I stepped on a pretend-live cable strewn across the area. “You!†barked the fireman. “Lie on your back and make like a dying bug, because that’s what you’d be right now if this were for real.†Oh well. At least I’ll be on the watch for cables next time. He let me back in the game and we finished the job. The crash test dummies seemed grateful and had the courtesy not to scream or bleed– which is more than I can say about the live actors at the next station.
What is triage, I had always wondered. That’s when you ignore the people who are alive enough to grab at your pants legs pleading for help and focus on the ones that are half conscious and silent because they’re at death’s door. Not a job for the hyper sensitive or the easily rattled. My own pain threshold is as high as a kiwi bird, and my threshold for other people’s pain is only slightly higher.
Picture if you will a person of such constitution among an assortment of desperate earthquake victims shrieking out entreaties for help. An individual impaled with a curtain rod can sound unbearably frantic if she’s not number one on your list as you prioritize your way around the site. And for an ESL teacher I felt surprisingly bewildered by the hysterical non-English-speaking Chinese guy jabbering away incomprehensibly at us, flailing around an explosive-looking canister of who-knew-what. You’re supposed to be able to block out all that and calmly focus on the quiet, dead-looking person turning blue over in the corner.
The next test was called Here, feel your way through thick debris-dust around a dark half-collapsed building looking for bodies. My small team of searchers groped up and down broken stairways strewn with debris, wielding impotent flashlights in a fog of simulated dust, and failed to turn up any of the three waiting wounded. No surprise there. Who am I kidding? Even in normal conditions I can’t find my way around a fully lit office building equipped with signs to find live upright people smiling and wearing name tags.
By this time you may be wondering just what I would be good for. I’ve been wondering too, and finally I’ve thought of something. I’m planning this winter to start the process of learning to operate ham radios – since all other types of communication will be compromised. Instead of being outside with all the blood, I could be holed up with a radio transmitting messages to and from people who actually could help. That I believe I could handle. I think if I had my hoard of water and snacks and a pot to pee in and a cot to sleep on, I might be able to prevent myself from dissolving into a quivering jello of ineptitude and be helpful in that way.
Do I feel ready now that I’ve had preparedness training? No, I do not. If anyone does feel ready, they’re as delusional as Michael Brown. But at least I have some answers to those basic questions I started out with. And since I’ll have an idea of what’s supposed to be happening, I’m hoping I’ll be able to figure out the answers to new questions that come up, like, Does that person know what he’s doing, or is he just some nut grabbing the wheel in a fit of panic-induced charisma?
The NET training in Portland opens up for another round in January, and it’s usually available in two different time slots. I recommend it. I hope other people will discover in advance what they can and cannot do so we can all fill in for each other’s missing skill sets. We’re all overbooked with our 101 time commitments, but will they matter when we’re all mucking around together in the aftermath of The Big Whatever?
How to sign up:
Only if you live in Portland, call 503-823-1260 and leave your contact information to receive a registration packet. If you live outside Portland, call your local fire department and ask about CERT: Community Emergency Response Teams. We can’t call it that in Portland because on the air that sounds like “SERT†which is the Portland Police’s version of SWAT. A variety of names are used for citizen response teams around the country, all of which use the same training. Some of the names are NET, CERT, and NERT: Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams.
October 17th, 2005 at 8:03 pm
Even though it’s only a matter of time, most people in this area are willing to take the odds that it won’t happen in their lifetime. Hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods are such seasonal certainties that we North Westerners feel we can smugly say “how could they possibly be that crazy to live in XYZ?” without being troubled much by the hypocrisy.
I’d say getting yourself prepared has shown more foresight and courage than most people will have. Thanks for the reality poke!
November 13th, 2005 at 12:18 pm
We can’t stop it! However, education and preparation is our best defense to surviving the aftermath of such catastrophic events. The more prepared our citizens are, allow resources to react more efficiently in the response and recovery of our community.
Keep up the good work! Spread the word. Each household needs the knowledge of preparing for these unthinkable, unwanted events.
December 4th, 2005 at 8:14 am
Kate:
I reread your statement and I hate to pop your bubble regarding earthquakes.
There are 44 States eligible for an earthquake, and the West Coast is only one area, and probably not for the really big one- according to history. Look up New Madrid, MO, 1811-12. Those quakes rang church bells in Boston, and the Miss. River flowed upstream.
As to assurances, Kobe, Japan had been assured by the professionals that they couldn’t possibly have a quake. That was the year before they had their big one.
In California, the Loma Prieta quake that messed up San Francisco and surrounds,was listed as having a 30% chance of a quake within the next 30 years, only six months before it happened.
We really don’t know when, or how big, or anything else about quakes.
Wherever you go, learn how to deal with a quake and any other popular local disasters. Just try not to settle on a fault line.
There’s a free Ebook available from our website that uses an earthquake story as an example. It is titled, *First Aid For Dsiaster Stress Trauma Victims – A Guide and Self-help Manual For the Lay Person Treating Disaster Stress Trauma Victims.
March 21st, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Ralph Ritchie’s statement that “West Coast is only one area, and probably not for the really big one- according to history†is incorrect and dangerously misleading.
The Cascadia Subduction Zone is now one of the best studied fault zones in the world; there is clear geological evidence (turbidites, sediment layers, tree rings in submersed forests, tsunami records, etc.) chronicling the last 10,000+ years. We now know that this zone has very consistently produced magnitude 9+ events along the ENTIRE 700 MILE FAULT. These are among the largest known earthquakes in world history and in a class known as “megathrust†earthquakes.
The New Madrid quakes (magnitude 8.0), impressive as they were, are by comparison “baby†events. They were an order of magnitude less energetic, and did not have such a large epicenter. Most earthquakes have an almost point-like epicenter. The only other fault zone known to produce earthquakes with such a long epicenter is the one which produced the December 26, 2004 Sumatra earthquake which caused the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami.
If you want a “preview†of a Cascadia event (on land), look at the 9.2 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake of March 28, 1964, but imagine an epicenter from Vancouver Island, Canada into Northern California. Everything from the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean, approximately 87,000 square miles, will be shaking. When it goes, Cascadia will eclipse (in magnitude of devastation) the combined effects of the Prince William Sound quake, New Madrid quakes, all California quakes, 9-11 attacks, and hurricane Katrina. It will be the worst disaster in US history.
What do we know about the timing of the next Cascadia megathrust earthquake? We know the Cascadia events regularly occur in clusters. What is not yet clear is whether we are at the tail end of a cluster. If we are, no one alive today will witness the next event. If we aren’t, then the next one will occur relatively soon.
I was about 13 miles (in Cupertino, CA) from the epicenter of the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake, in a state well prepared for earthquakes. Even so, it took two or three days before life *began* to return to normal. If the same earthquake were to hit Portland, things would not rebound nearly as quickly (we would have more building and bridge failures, and have a less prepared citizenry and government). And Cascadia will be about 1,000 times more energetic than Loma Prieta or Kobe! Unfortunately, too few of us here in western Oregon are prepared. Too few of us are even AWARE of the danger. One of the lessons to be learned from Katrina is that being prepared makes all the difference in the world. People in the Pacific NW need more than a 72-hour kit. We should be thinking in terms of 30-day kits. Cascadia will have *aftershocks* the size of Loma Prieta and Kobe.
We could get lucky and be at the tail-end of a cluster, in which case it will be the great-grandchildren our great-grandchildren who need to worry about it. Then again, the next one could come today. We need to have a preparedness mindset. We also need to start building to much higher earthquake standards than we have been.
For more information about Cascadia and Pacific NW Earthquakes, along with many other CERT program contacts in Oregon, and earthquake resilient building design, visit this web page:
http://quake.organicorb.com/
Also, the SW Portland Emergency Preparedness group is starting to build a web site. At the time of this writing, we are expecting new equipment for a faster server. Once installed, the web site will be expanded. It is intended as an educational resource, and a way for NET’s in SW Portland to contact one another and share information, concerns, etc.:
http://emergency.swni.org/
April 15th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Additional information for Portland’s NETs can be found at this link:
http://pdxnet.proboards75.com/index.cgi
May 2nd, 2006 at 4:09 am
Re: Michael K, Mar 21, 2006
Thanks for the detailed info on the Cascadia Fault. It is wise to consider the worst case situation for any disaster preparation. However I sincerely pray you are wrong about the immediacy of such an event up here.
I take issue with your comments about the New Madrid 1811-1812 quakes. Nothing of magnitude 8 should be described as “baby” events.
I was literally sitting on top of the M 7, San Fernando Quake in 1970, taking a shower. It is a very lonely feeling, bouncing around in a shower with a jammed door, in the buff. All I could think about was getting my pants on.
Disaster Preparedness had no meaning at the time, but I still keep my emergency pack by the door. I have used it several times.
The period here in the Northwest is about 350 years and we are due, so prepare for the worst and pray for something, anything, less.
May 2nd, 2006 at 4:49 am
Re: Kate Gawf, Oct 17, 2005
About learning Ham Radio:
I have read your message several times and I congratulate you on your vivid description once again.
As far as radio communication is concerned, your best bet is Citizen’s Band Radio.
Ham Radio requires a special kind of person, one whose eyes glaze over at the mention of sidebands, radiated power, VSWR, and a host of other key words and they mumble strange replies known only to their fraternity. I have been a professional since my first FCC license dated 1955. I had no time for hamming, but I could always use the set of a friend who was addicted. Their emergency nets have real value in any community.
My Disaster Preparedness books all have a chapter on emergency communications. Radio is only one part. The book that will most likly interest you is, “Disaster Preparedness For Urban and Suburban Living”. There are nine books in the Series.
None of your efforts are wasted and you keep increasing your chances of survival.
July 16th, 2006 at 7:05 am
Start watching for headlines that are more optimistic, such as these:
GLOBAL WARMING REVERSED!
DIASTER AVERTED… EARTH SAVED!
MAN-MADE CLIMATE CHANGES… PERMANENTLY NULLIFIED!
Albert Einstein provided the perfect scientific answer to Global Warming in 1905 with his paradigm, mass-to-energy equation, which is the key to unlocking all of the clean, cheap, environmentally friendly energy the inhabitants of Earth will ever need, without any pollution or waste stream, and with no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse emissions.
Even the super-powerful Energy Cartel will be unable to prevent millions of individuals around the World from freely switching to this abundant and everlasting Einsteinian cornucopia of “home-made energy,” which will automatically reestablish Mother Nature as the exclusive controller of climate change.
http://slow-motion-Thermonuclear.blogspot.com/2006/06/invention-for-sale-slow-motion.html
June 1st, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I can imagine each one of us will experience a disaster or emergency in our lifetime. it is important to be prepared for anything
June 1st, 2007 at 7:19 pm
dental care insurance…
go McGill.linearized Gaulle …
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Sure, “disasters” happen all the time, depending on your definition… but there’s no reason to go around being petrified with fear and ‘what if’s’
November 7th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
We all need to have a good supply of emergency preparedness items for our family but don’t forget the “other” family members – our pets. They need good drinking water and safe food as well. Be sure to keep them leashed so they don’t get into bad water or other dangers