I've been involved with an Emergency Operations Center for one jurisdiction for quite awhile. It's widely known that, while Seattle has the most money for Ops, they are the least prepared. When we do live events, they are the worst.
Another thing most people don't know is, most Emergency Operation Center people don't live in the jurisdiction they work for.
I know one EOC head that lives over on the peninsula, yet is the head of Operations for a city over here. If there is a catastrophic earthquake, or some other event that impedes travel and safety, there is o way he can, or will, leave his family to get to the Center. The rules of engagement are, 1) Make sure you and your family are okay 2) Help those around you, if you can do so safely, and THEN try to get to EOC if you can, safely.....the idea being that you are of no help if, ultimately, you become one who needs help.
Thus the people at the very top, the ones with the most knowledge and experience, may not be available during a crisis.
Sat Oct 29, 2016 4:47 pm
ANZAC
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Location: 12 Acres in Eastern WA Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 Posts: 7251
Yes, this happened during the snow/ice storm. There were people who had keys to shelters that lived on the extreme opposite side of town. I took a guy from U district to federal way to open a shelter (no one was on the roads at the time).
Mercer Island... well, if you're on Mercer Island you're just screwed, unless you have a boat to get off there. They don't have any stockpiles of EMS medical supplies or drugs because their use is so low they don't rotate fast enough. So if the bridges fall, and people on the island need medical care, shit will get very real ASAP.
I have some of the county emergency supplies, but the conditions they are stored in are not ideal. Even the stock of body bags is not enough to deal with a major event. There may be other places that have them stored, but ours come from the military.
The county with a $13B budget hasn't even set aside money for a basic emergency management program. The lack of resources, equipment is just terrible. The training and procedures I think are largely there. Some amount of communications is there. (for example, there are dedicated and robust EOC to EOC phone lines)
Sat Oct 29, 2016 8:55 pm
ANZAC
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Location: 12 Acres in Eastern WA Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 Posts: 7251
The state EOC is pretty impressive (mounted on huge shock absorbers with a draw bridge and umbilicals). Also it is in a fairly secure military base (recently upgraded portals too).
FEMA is a joke. They're the ones who don't have their logos on their trucks "you know, because of what happened at Katrina".
Sat Oct 29, 2016 8:57 pm
ANZAC
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Location: 12 Acres in Eastern WA Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 Posts: 7251
You better prep for more than a week. The snowstorm a few years ago that took out my electricity for a week had people fighting over oreos.
Yes I saw people fighting over gas for their generators at the gas pump 2 days after the windstorm.
The real big question I have is: will I venture outside of my house to other people. I spend most of my spare time helping other people, but I think there's a strong argument to stay home and take care of my family and my property (or what's left of it).
There will be looting. There will be fighting. There will be extreme food shortages. There will be no utilities. 911 will be effectively defunct (even if you can get through to them with a ham radio through ARES/RACES they will be overwhelmed, don't even bother trying).
You're more likely to not get cholera and all the other shit if you stay home away from other people and have an adequate amount of food/water and some kind of sanitation plan.
Bugging out I think is a smart move -- unless of course it is the super volcano that explodes and then we are all screwed. I think if you can make it to 97/20 east you might have some options to get out of dodge through northern ID/MT.
Does anyone know a good database of bridge locations? I would think the smaller bridges would likely be ok....
If I'm somewhere in between. Could get interesting.
Which is why if you don't already have one, get a "get home bag" for each vehicle. Think bug out bag but a bit lighter. I have regular full sized backpacks for the bug out bags but my car bag is an essential part of that and planned in. My two best water filters are in the car get home bags as its hartder to carry water in the car and nto as necessary to lug all over. Whereas the bug out plan, if necessary includes grabbing a couple of the 5 gallon water storage tanks. The filter becomes the supplement.
Minimum 1 month, 3 months will cover about 98% of all disasters. Take the time to plan your preps though. Make sure you stay organized and rotate and test you supplies. For example I found a wind up flashlight/radio in my supplies not working the last time I tested. Probably got missed getting used as you need to recharge them every 6 months to keep the batteries from dying.
Also, get to know others in your area who are prepared. It's going to take more than just your household to survive if things really get bad.
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Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:13 pm
Lincoln4
Location: Middleton, Idaho Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2014 Posts: 58
Real Name: Tom
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