In this issue of the 12 page CERT National Newsletter, Volume 3, Issue 4, you will read about the creative and diverse ways CERT members serve their communities when they aren’t activated for emergency situations.

Also featured in this issue is an article on the Pasadena Community College CERT’s full-scale ShakeOut exercise, and the Denver CERT program’s success in building community partnerships....

The King County Healthcare Coalition is a network of healthcare organizations and providers working together to strengthen emergency preparedness and response. A voluntary organization administered by Public Health – Seattle & King County, the Coalition is open to all organizations and individuals that provide or support health care services in King County.

The Seattle...

36 amateur radio operators and elected officials attended Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club’s 2011 Field Day Saturday and Sunday.

The formal objective for Field Day is:

To work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, but are not eligible to submit entries.

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John Galus will give an Introduction to Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) to VIFR firefighters and EMTs at VIFR Fire Station 55 at 7 PM(?) on July 5th.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

For details on the Western Washington Section see: www.arrl.org/Groups/view/western-washington or wwa.arrl.org. Washington State ARES info is at: www.wastateares.org

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If you’ve not come across them, Paul Nichols has created several time lapse earthquake maps. Working at the University of Canterbury's Digital Media Group, he takes USGS or GeoNet data and plots it using the Google Maps API to create a fascinating animation.

The main message is that “the” quake is actually a “quake swarm” - with a few prominent releases that really stand out amongst a background of thousands of smaller...

The CDC has a slew of professional, tested and vetted PSAs that could come in handy on Vashon after a disaster.

They have both disaster specific PSAs:

Earthquakes Extreme Heat Floods Hurricanes Wildfires Winter Weather As well as generic messages for:

Mobile Devices, Staying Safe After a Storm, Food and Water, Prescription Drugs, Cleanup, and Coping As well as Disaster Information for Specific...

Many answers to questions you may (or may not!) have had are to be found in the following section of law:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=38.52

The current list:

38.52.005 State military department to administer emergency management program -- Local...

The Seattle Times posted a special section on June 10th with useful tips for those with (or concerned about) a landslide. My neighbor who had a very expensive landslide late last year just pointed this useful information out to me. Read the full report at: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2015278322_realslidersbar12.html Where to get more information on landslides Chris Winters

Special to The Seattle Times

GREG GILBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES



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“The United States is the most severe weather-prone country on Earth according to the National Weather Service. Hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and other natural disasters can strike without warning and force you to evacuate your home or cause disruptions in mail service.”

I’ve not found confirmation for this, but this quote comes from a FEMA press release this morning urging electronic deposits for federal benefits (over checks that cost more money, get lost or stolen), so I presume it is accurate.

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There is critical legislation regarding public safety organizations’ ability to communicate – without paying telecommunication companies huge fees (subsidies?!). A reprint on one side of this issue follows. (Note that VashonBePrepared has not taken a stance on this or any other legislative to date. We may in the future – our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status only prevents us from spending a “substantial” portion of our budget for influencing legislation.)

The Politics of the D-Block: Now is the Time to Communicate with Your Members of Congress

William M. Webb, Executive Director, Congressional Fire Services Institute...

There are many federal entities that sponsor research, but a very few like the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) which provides a critical link between important research findings and practical application. For us in Washington—the second highest...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is pleased to announce that Earthquake-Resistant Design Concepts:...

I heard that “our” very own Don Price recently served as the head of ESF-6 for FEMA’s recovery efforts in Mississippi! He and other locals who have been serving afield will present their debrief on Tuesday, June 21st, from 1 – 3 PM. The location is the King County Office of Emergency Management Room 114 – Main Coordination Center.

There have been ground breaking developments in Children’s issues, FNSS, ADA, ESF 6 multi-agency coordination and more. Lessons learned, best practices and how to apply them to our local operations will all be discussed.

Speakers:

Don Price, Emergency Management Program Manager, King County...

Yet another post on the value of cash – versus unsolicited donations of (often inappropriate) goods and supplies comes from the UPS Foundation’s Humanitarian Relief Program Manager. Just back from the annual meeting of NVOAD, held in Kansas City – hours from Joplin, he had the following take-homes:

Donate Money If Donating Goods, Verify Items Will be Accepted and Used For Volunteers, Take Advantage of Disaster Assistance Training He recommends helpful web tools: Aidmatrix Network and HandsOnNetwork.org....

Are your bookcases secured - or your water heater? There are often personal tasks that we all need to accomplish - but need a bit of advice or to see the basics before tackling these projects. The following were designed for exactly this purpose!

For our media outreach efforts, and for individual preparedness, please be aware of the following videos produced for Washington residents.  These videos were produced in partnership with Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management and the Washington State Emergency Management Division. Funding for the project was made possible through grants from Governor Christine Gregoire, Washington State Citizen Corps and a donation from Puget Sound Energy. 

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Seattle, Washington, June 1, 2011 – On Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM (local time), the northeast coast of Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 (M9.0) subduction earthquake as the boundary between the Pacific and the North American plates ruptured along an offshore section. The rupture extended about 200 miles along the Japan coast, resulting in approximately 100 feet of vertical slip and causing a series of devastating tsunamis. A similar event along the Cascadia...

Learn about the activities of CERTs across the country in the CERT in Action! stories just posted at the national CERT website:

Bay, Texas CERT Partners with Red Cross, Community, to Respond to Apartment Fire...

Mark your calendars!  The Annual Hazus Conference will be held in Seattle, Washington, August 10 – 12, 2011, at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building. 

HAZUS-MH is software developed by FEMA that analyzes risk from natural hazards in communities. To register for this FREE conference, please visit www.hazus.net. From their site:

HAZUS-MH is a powerful risk assessment methodology used to analyze potential losses from natural hazards including floods, hurricane winds and earthquakes. HAZUS uses state-of-the-art Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software combined with science, engineering and mathematical modeling to map and display hazard data and the results of damage and economic loss estimates for buildings and infrastructure. ...

As initially announced at VashonBePrepared’s Annual Meeting, King County Office of Emergency Management is making arrangements with Camp Burton...

About 42 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters around the world in 2010, more than double the number during the previous year, experts said Monday.

One reason for the increase in the figure could be climate change, and the international community should be doing more to contain it, the experts said.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said the increase from 17 million displaced people in 2009 was mainly due to the impact of "mega-disasters" such as the massive floods in China and Pakistan and the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti.

- Read full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/06/501364/main20069401.shtml

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The FEMA publication Are You Ready?: An In-depth Guide For Citizen Preparedness, is a 200-page comprehensive guide that walks the reader through a step-by-step approach to getting informed about local emergency plans, how to identify hazards that effect their local area, and how to develop and maintain an emergency communications plan and disaster supplies kit. Other topics covered include evacuation, emergency public shelters, animals in disaster, and information specific to people with disabilities. Are You Ready? also provides in-depth information on specific hazards including what to do before, during, and after each hazard type.

You can download English and Spanish preparedness guides or order them for free...

 



Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Recruit Video









Vashon's Jojo has produced a great new video aimed at helping recuit volunteers to help the community with the vital work of fighting fires & helping provide medical help. Congratulations!

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Flights of fancy (and a bit of vulgarity) continue over in the editorial offices of the Onion as they present their take on recent disasters: a personified Earth is tired of humans’ presence.

How society views and ‘socializes’ disaster is as important as the ‘science’ predicting and understanding disaster...

Up to forty percent of businesses affected by a natural or man-made major disaster never reopen

Washington, D.C., June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Up to 40% of businesses affected by a natural or man-made disaster never reopen, according to the Insurance Information Institute. In a nationwide effort to raise the business community’s awareness about how to prepare their businesses and employees...

The goal of this free forum is to bring together government, non-profit, faith-based and other partners who would have a role in Mass Care (shelter, feeding, distribution of emergency...