By John Cornelison on
4/19/2012 6:06 AM
As mentioned at last night’s annual meeting, preparedness efforts on Vashon made strong strides over the past year. These successes are only partially due to VashonBePrepared’s efforts, and mainly by our various partners, including some independent accomplishments by others in our community. Here’s the listing presented:
Business Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization created, numerous meetings led by Vashon Chamber of Commerce
Enhanced relations with King County Office of Emergency Management:
Operation Lifeline - Plan & contract for hiring a barge or dedicated ferry to shuttle supplies if normal ferry operations are down
MOU with Vashon Island School District to serve as a Disaster Campus
MOU with Camp Burton to house disaster workers from off island
Vashon integration w/ county computer alerting/management systems
Enhanced integration of CERT & MRC & EOC Team with VIFR ops
Disaster Emergency Response Trailer...
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By John Cornelison on
4/19/2012 5:53 AM
A new board was seated last night at VashonBePrepared’s Annual Meeting.
As set out in our bylaws, we have two classes of directors – ex-officio directors as set out by our bylaws – primarily the chief representatives of our partners – and those elected by the membership at our annual meeting: our at-large directors.
VashonBePrepared 2012 Board of Directors
John Cornelison (past Prez)
Donna Donnelly (at-large)
Synthia Downs (at-large)
Jill Janow (EOC Team)
Tim Johnson (at-large)
Hank Lipe (VIFR)
Daniel Luechtefeld (ARES)
John “Oz” Osborne (at-large)
Scott Rice (CERT)
Debi Richards (NERO)
Catherine Rogers (VEPC)
Bob Smueles (at-large)
Ed Steyh (EOC Team)
Rex Stratton (VIEMA)
Rick Wallace (EOC Team)
The new board then unanimously elected the following directors to the Executive Committee, that subset of the board that meets monthly and tends to the daily business of our corporation:
VashonBePrepared...
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By John Cornelison on
4/16/2012 10:26 AM
There’s a new Puget Sound regional disaster website up and live today, known as www.MakeitThrough.org. It looks good and emphasizes having at least 7-10 days worth of supplies – not just the old message of 3 day, 3 ways. (I suspect this replaces the old www.3days3ways.org website, but don’t know for sure.) The list...
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By John Cornelison on
4/13/2012 1:54 PM
PBS Newshour just did a special segment about the risk to northwesterners of liquidification during quake tremblers. Thanks to Jill for noticing this. Read the transcript and see the video on their site here: www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june12/liquefaction_04-12.html ...
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By John Cornelison on
4/13/2012 12:33 PM
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By John Cornelison on
4/13/2012 12:24 PM
Earthquakes are one of the greatest natural hazards for Washington residents. Practicing what you should do when the ground begins to shake is an important part of being prepared. On April 25 state broadcasters will initiated the “Drop, Cover and Hold” earthquake drill through the Emergency Alert System. Tune into KIRO radio (97.3 FM) at 9:45 a.m. to join local residents and businesses as we “drop” to the floor, take “cover”...
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By John Cornelison on
4/13/2012 6:47 AM
With all the recent earthquakes around the ring of fire it isn’t too surprising we want to connect these occurrences as having some pattern. But we shouldn’t, according to Lucile Jones, Science Advisor for Risk Reduction at the USGS, in an interview with ABC News. She did note that yesterday’s 8.6M strike-slip...
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By John Cornelison on
4/11/2012 9:29 PM
Today’s Vashon Beachcomber had a bunch of great quotes that Susan Riemer got from next week’s expert speakers. She especially covered the little reported tsunami risk that could damage our ferry docks, certain waterfront locations (those perpendicular to the surge), and perhaps the isthmus between Vashon and Maury Islands. Some information on this can also be found on our tsunami page.
Read her Beachcomber article here:...
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By John Cornelison on
4/11/2012 8:07 PM
Art Frankel and Craig Weaver of the U.S. Geological Survey gave a presentation to the Seattle City Council on Monday (as noted in this agenda) that has raised some eyebrows – and reaffirms our sensitivity to upcoming seismic disturbances. See their PowerPoint presentation or read on for a few copies of a few of their slides.
In 2014, there will be a regular 6 year update to the National Seismic Hazard Maps. A workshop on the Pacific Northwest Portion of this was held locally on March 21-22, 2012. ...
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By John Cornelison on
4/11/2012 7:26 PM
Thanks to the EOC Team’s Public Information lead, Jill Janow, for cleaning up how emergency bulletins will be posted to our web site in a future disaster. All Emergency Bulletins will be put on a dedicated page, so they will have the full width and will download as fast as possible.
Note that we will post here with any updates from our EOC when activated. Other key source of emergency news can be found on our News page’s Vashon Emergency News Links section.
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By John Cornelison on
4/11/2012 7:12 PM
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By John Cornelison on
3/26/2012 8:20 AM
VashonBePrepared is celebrating our 5th anniversary by sponsoring two of the state's foremost experts on Vashon's unique earthquake and tsunami risks. Recent scientific reports, a number based on lessons from Japan's devastating Tōhoku...
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By John Cornelison on
3/26/2012 7:56 AM
An ‘ongoing’ effort (but apparently in abeyance since 2002?!) to create an accurate seismic model for the Puget Sound region and British Columbia is the USGS’ Seismic Hazards Investigations in the Puget Sound (SHIPS) project. Since March 1998 SHIPS has conducted a series of seismic studies to better describe...
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By John Cornelison on
3/26/2012 7:32 AM
The Community Preparedness Webinar Series provides up-to-date information on community preparedness topics and resources available to citizens, community organizations, and Citizen Corps Councils. These webinars will feature new community preparedness topics several times each month and are free to the public. Each webinar will accommodate the first 500 visitors that enter the website at the time of the webinar. In addition to airing live, each webinar will be recorded and viewable after it completes at your convenience. View the current listings of webinars at: http://citizencorps.gov/resources/webinars/webinarlibrary.shtm ...
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By John Cornelison on
3/26/2012 6:46 AM
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By John Cornelison on
3/26/2012 6:32 AM
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By John Cornelison on
3/24/2012 10:53 AM
Some of our descriptions of potential disasters that might befall the Puget Sound region - and Vashon in particular - might sound a lot like crying “Wolf” to some. But there is a very serious reality out there, even if most of us haven’t been exposed to it in our brief lives here on earth.
The...
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By John Cornelison on
3/21/2012 12:06 PM
In digging through some old public relations materials for our new campaign, I came across this treasure of a VashonBePrepared promotional movie featuring long time volunteer Walt Stempek. (Walt has reported that Michael Monteleione filmed and edited this video. Most excellent!) Anyone have any additional stories about this?!
Watch it on VashonBePrepared’s new YouTube Channel: ...
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By John Cornelison on
3/21/2012 10:08 AM
Most folks think of an overseas or Cascadia based quake as generating a terrible tsunami – and they are right. However such a tsunami is not likely to cause massive damage to Vashon from what I’ve heard – largely due to the moderating influence of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. (It will be interesting to verify this at our upcoming April 18th community meeting with Washington State experts).
There...
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By John Cornelison on
3/21/2012 9:29 AM
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By John Cornelison on
3/21/2012 8:44 AM
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed consolidating their grants program for fiscal year 2013. This was met with criticism in Washington DC Tuesday. Democrats particularly questioned the proposed consolidation of 16 individual grant programs into the National Preparedness Grant Program (NPGP) during a hearing of the House Homeland Security emergency preparedness subcommittee. There were calls for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), port grants, transit grants and the State Homeland Security Grant Program to remain...
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By John Cornelison on
3/20/2012 7:56 AM
Ted Buehner, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service has announced a new Weather Spotter Training opportunity for the evening of April 26th.
The National Weather Service will train new and veteran spotters on how to look for and report significant weather events. The training includes video demonstrations. Interested citizens, Amateur radio, CERT, Citizen Corp, Law Enforcement, Transportation (Metro drivers, DOT) Fire, Public Works staff, and those who have weather instrumentation such as an anemometer are invited to attend!
Thursday, April 26th from 6:00-8:30 pm ...
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By John Cornelison on
3/11/2012 9:15 AM
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By John Cornelison on
3/11/2012 8:43 AM
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By John Cornelison on
3/11/2012 8:16 AM
Just a brief note to commemorate those whose lives have been disrupted and lost by the Tōhoku disaster one year ago today.
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By John Cornelison on
3/5/2012 9:22 AM
Just a quick report that power (and phone) has been out for parts of the west side (near Redding's Loop Road at least) for ~3 hours. Apparently a large tree fell across the power line near 216th St. on 111th Ave. The tree has been removed at this point and crews are working on repairing the line. Hopefully power will be restored within a couple more hours or less.
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By John Cornelison on
3/4/2012 3:24 PM
VashonBePrepared uses Constant Contact to manage several confidential email lists. These currently have many hundreds of users on them. The lists are free, and a great way to get the latest, authoritative information during an emergency.
VashonBePrepared Emergency Alerts
One list is for anyone who would like to receive emergency alerts by email. This is a great way to receive authoritative information directly from Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) and/or VashonBePrepared during critical events affecting Vashon and Maury Island residents and businesses.
Periodic VashonBePrepared Newsletter
I’m not sure that we have sent out very many of these in recent years but it is likely that we will start sending out seasonal newsletters to those who sign up for this list. ...
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By John Cornelison on
3/1/2012 8:41 AM
The DHS recently released the FY 2012 guidance and application kits for seven grant programs that support the National Preparedness Goal. Grants total more than $1.3 billion, a reduction of nearly $1 billion from FY 2011 and $1.5 billion below the President Obama’s FY 2012 request. The DHS preparedness grants give priority this year to applicants in the nation’s highest-risk areas, including urban areas, with a focus on terrorism prevention. “Given the significant reduction in grant funding this year, we are maximizing limited grant dollars by setting clear priorities and focusing on the areas that face the greatest risk,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement.
- Read full report at http://urgentcomm.com/policy_and_law/news/preparedness-grants-cut-20120229/
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By John Cornelison on
3/1/2012 8:27 AM
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By John Cornelison on
2/28/2012 9:58 PM
Basic Animal Emergency Services Training (BAEST), taught by the American Humane Association, costs $180 per person though CERT Volunteers who register through Catherine Cochrane can get in free! Registration is on a first come, first served basis. The registration deadline is this Friday, March 2nd. Click graphic to the right for details. ...
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