John's Vashon Preparedness Blog

Watch it on Vimeo.

Seattle Colleges has generously offered to host an Incident Command System 100/200/700 Combination Course at no charge.

The course will be held Thu, October 13, 2016 from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM at South Seattle College, 6000 16th Ave SW, Seattle, WA.

If you are interested in participating in any of the VashonBePrepared groups, this is an excellent way to get up to speed on the terminology and concepts used on Vashon – and throughout the United States.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/incident-command-system-100200700-combo-course-tickets-27103829283

In an effort to prepare Seattle communities for ‘The Big One’ and other disasters Seattle may face, Mayor Murray has proclaimed October 2016 as Emergency Preparedness Month.

Please join the Office...

Thanks to All Who Participated What a team! How is it possible that so many people can work together for four days and achieve so much?

The answer: It's what Vashon is all about, isn't it? Neighbors helping neighbors.

Many thanks to everyone who came to "play" in Vashon's Cascadia Rising earthquake exercise.

We had many new faces and our mailing list (http://goo.gl/qk7zTf)...

Download a PDF version of this brochure (with better layout!) by clicking here.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Welcomes National Guard A Note from Fire Chief Hank Lipe Nobody could ever truly be ready for an earthquake as bad as the Cascadia scenario. It will overwhelm even the best efforts of our small fire district and the many organizations and volunteers in the VashonBePrepared coalition.

But Islanders are resilient and I know we will all work together as neighbors to take care of each other as best we can until mainland help arrives. Still, a community’s response to a large scale disaster is only as good as its planning and training. That’s...

King County is investing in a new regional public emergency alert and notification system which features a public alert service - ALERT King County - to keep residents informed about significant events or emergency situations.

ALERT King County replaces RPIN (Regional Public Information & Notification) and uses the capable CodeRED software to drive the system.

The new software offers enhanced features that allow officials to more precisely target...

Stay informed when you are roaming the urban lands: Consider subscribing to AlertSeattle – the City’s new, real-time emergency alert and notification system.

When emergencies happen, be the first to know. AlertSeattle is your link to real-time, official notifications from the City of Seattle.

AlertSeattle is a free service that allows you to sign up online to receive customized alerts via text message, email, voice message, and on social media (Facebook and Twitter). This service is provided by the City of Seattle at no cost; however, message and data rates may apply.

In addition to emergency alerts, you can also choose to receive customizable community notifications. These will include notifications about severe weather,...

Last Thursday, FEMA and its partners released the 2015 National Preparedness Report (NPR). The NPR is an annual status report summarizing the Nation's progress toward reaching the 2011 National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation. This report marks the fourth iteration of the NPR. The 2015 NPR places particular emphasis on highlighting preparedness progress in implementing the National Planning Frameworks. The Frameworks describe how the whole...

A Technician Test Prep class is schedule for May 15th 6PM to 9PM, 16th 10AM to 5PM, 17th 10AM - 3PM.

Cost of the class is $30 to cover instructors expense's, the cost of the test and an official ham license.

Additionally, students need to purchase a new textbook since the question pool has changed as of July 14th. Here is a link to the ARRL Store but this book is available at other outlets:

http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual-3rd-Edition/

To register for class, contact:

Sharon Danielson via email: kharazi (at) aol.com

A year after Oso, Arts WA is hosting a way for poets to memorialize that tragic event. Here’s one great entry:

One March morning the landscape shrugged—

fields dammed the river, hillsides fattened and rolled

—a hungry black bear feasting on every fallen thing.

When there is no one to blame but the rainfall,

no trial, no jury, no jail—our cry for justice is empty.

We have only the hope of no one suffering,

that bodies succumbed the way an infant...

The...

Two joint studies are out this week and indicate that the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013’s predictions of a global sea rise of a bit over 3 feet by the end of the century could be way off.

Apparently warm ocean water is already undermining a vast stretch of West Antarctica ice that could release enough water to raise sea levels by up to 11 feet in the next 100-200 years. 13 million people live within 10 vertical feet of the ocean and Miami, New Orleans, and New York City would be the cities most affected.

Read yesterday’s Washington Post’s article...

Personal weather stations (PWS) supplement public weather stations, such as those at airports. Given the right equipment, citizens with a PWS can share their weather data with a number of services who will aggregate the data and help collectively provide better weather forecasts for the region.

Owners also get more...

According to the LA Times, the entire west coast should get access to the first generation of early earthquake warnings as early as next year. Dependent on congress’ upcoming vote, the budget would be some $16 million annually.

The new system would be the first generation, after a bare-bones prototype system has proven the concept over the last year or so in a limited set of locations. California would go from 200 to 400 sensors while 275 sensors are apparently all that are currently planned for Oregon and Washington.

Specialized systems have been in place for years. For instance the Alaskan Way Viaduct automatically is closed...

Seattle to host Nov. 18th Twitter event to take questions about landslides

Did you know that most landslides occur between the months of October and April? And that 86 percent of landslides are caused to some extent by human activity? Landslide season is upon us and the City of Seattle is urging residents to take preventive measures to protect themselves and their property from possible landslides.

Heavy rains are likely this year for the Pacific Northwest. As the rainfall continues to increase throughout...

The American Red Cross has released a slew of apps for the Android and Apple marketplace.

One of their latest - Monster Guard: Prepare for Emergencies - is oriented at 7-11 year olds...

Most folks believe the National Weather Service just reports on the weather – but I remain skeptical. I actually think they know how to control it – when it fits their key goals.

As conclusive proof, realize that the NWS proclaimed this week as “Winter Weather Awareness Week”. As a direct result – not coincidentally as many naively assume – the nation is going to be plunged...

The Vashon Beachcomber, publisher of last winter’s “Vashon Winter Ready 2013 Handbook” has kindly allowed VashonBePrepared to make the handbook available online. As we gear up for our annual winter storm season, you can review this great overview of winter preparedness on our Severe Storm page. Kudos also to VIFR, Voice of Vashon, Puget Sound Energy, and VashonBePrepared for their contributions to the handbook.

...

Over 25 ham radio operators showed up for the local amateur radio club’s bimonthly meeting tonight at Vashon’s Emergency Operations Center.

John Galus, past president of the club demonstrated the newly upgraded Local Area Communication Caches (LACCs) for the Dockton and Burton radio stations. (The north end and Tahlequah and 5th Station 55 caches have yet to receive the latest updates, but received upgrades in the form of hand-me-downs from the other caches.)

...

Here are some interesting resource pages for Earthquakes:

Earthquakes Data Magnitude 5.0 and Over 2005 - 2014
http://krilloil.com/blog/earthquake-data/

Seismic Monitor
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

Quakes - Live Earthquakes Map
http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/

VashonBePrepared Convenes Community Meeting on Landslide Risk VashonBePrepared invites the entire community to learn more about landslide risks on Vashon, a risk that ranks in the top three for the Island, right up there along with earthquake and severe weather. The informational meeting, which will include a question and answer session, will take place on Wednesday, October 29th,...

At least our knowledge of the Seattle Fault’s extent grew. This is according to USGS researcher Craig Weaver, as quoted in today’s Seattle Times article.

Apparently the quake occurred at the intersection of the Seattle Fault and another fault on the Olympic Peninsula. The article also references a 1995 quake near Vashon with magnitude 5 – which also turned out to be along the Seattle Fault.

The picture to the right (from the USGS)...

According to UW’s John Vidale, as reported by KING-TV and The Seattle Times, getting an early warning system in place for WA would cost some $17 million annually. We’ve a rudimentary system, but that’s seemingly not ready for prime time. It apparently is a priority for California’s legislators, but not (quite yet) ours. Maybe that will change!

More about California’s system – which gave a 10-second notice to the recent Napa quake is available at CBS.

As we reported a month ago, the USGS has released a new earthquake map. King 5’s recent story on this is at:

www.king5.com/story/news/local/2014/08/24/new-earthquake-map-shows-northwest-high-risk/14530165/

I haven’t vetted the following claims, but suspect they are readily verified. All too often the short term gain is overwhelmed by the long-term consequences…

- From http://www.emergency-management-degree.org/man-made-disasters/

The recent August 24, 2014 earthquake outside of Napa, California again demonstrated the seismic risk posed by a building’s nonstructural components. In general, the components of a building’s structural system that support the building and keep it standing—the frame, walls, and roof—performed very well in the Napa Valley earthquake. However, the nonstructural components of a building—the cladding, interior...

Voice of Vashon has started construction on Vashon’s new radio station KVSH, building as funds come in. And Islanders donated over $3,000 at Strawberry Festival so their fundraising campaign is at 93% of the $50,000 goal.

It'll take a couple more months of work to put KVSH-FM on the air but last week the all volunteer team erected the mast and antenna up top of the giant water tank just south of town.

See for yourself in this video!



...

This map shows, in purple and pink, the west-east line of magnetotelluric sensors that were placed north of Washington state’s Mount Rainier to study the volcanic plumbing system under the volcano. The sensors detect how the ground resists or conducts natural electricity within the Earth. Shown in yellow are seismic sensors that detect how fast or slow sound or seismic waves travel underground. Both methods were used in a new study that provides the most detailed look yet at the subterranean plumbing system that supplies the active volcano.

Photo Credit: R Shane McGary, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

July 17, 2014 – By measuring how fast Earth conducts electricity and seismic waves, a University of Utah researcher and colleagues made...

From http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/new-insight-on-the-nations-earthquake-hazards/

“Important changes in Washington are related to the addition of the Tacoma fault and changes to the South Whidbey Island fault. The Seattle region hazard has not changed significantly because we use a very similar model for the Seattle fault as was applied in 2008. We have not modified this fault using the geodetic model.” from the USGS report, Pg. 192

By: Jessica Robertson (jrobertson@usgs.gov) and Mark Petersen (mpetersen@usgs.gov)



...

Please don’t confuse VashonBePrepared with Cliff Goodman’s neat new Kickstarter campaign just down the road: Vashon Beer Prepared!

Cliff has run out of space and brewing capacity, and a serious shortage has developed as he has...