Seattle Emergency Communications Hubs Educational Summit

Seattle Emergency Communications Hubs Educational Summit

Making the most of your Hub

Saturday, Nov 3, 2012 8:30 a.m. – noon
Alki Community Center, 5817 SW Stevens St (West Seattle)

8:30 – Hub site(s) available for visiting outside
8:30 – New to Hubs orientation (overview of Hubs)
9:00 – Welcome, introductions, logistics, etc
9:15 – Disaster Characteristics – what will it look like in the responder areas?
10:00 – Break
10:15 – Panel presentations and Q & A
10:15 – How to set up the best sheltered Hub site
10:30 – How to stay dry, warm and hydrated for multiple days
10:45 – How to identify and deal with hazards aroundyou
11:00 – How to deal with the people around you 11:30– Q & A for all speakers
11:45 – Closing comments.

We love our volunteers!
More Info: Cindi Barker 933-6968 cbarker@qwest.net

Click for full-size

Preparedness for Pet Owners

Seattle has perhaps more pets per capita than a lot of other cities. I know many folk who are very devoted to their household pets. Have we thought to include them in our emergency plans? What if you're at work when disaster strikes? Can a neighbor get into your house and take care of them? It's the same principles which work for helping out your neighbors. Seattle Office of Emergency Management has published a leaflet "Disaster Preparedness for Pet Owners" which you might want to pick up to learn more. Below is a short section from the leaflet.

PET PREPAREDNESS
All responsible pet owners need to think about how they will take care of their animals when disaster strikes. The same advice for human preparedness goes for preparing for your pets. Be prepared to take care of yourself, your family (including pets) and your neighbors for a minimum of three days without any help from
the City resources.

For health and space reasons, pets are not allowed in public emergency shelters. However, in most states, trained guide dogs for persons with disabilities will be allowed to stay in emergency shelters with their owners.

PETS ARE FAMILY TOO!
Make arrangements for your pets as part of your household disaster planning. If you must evacuate your home, it’s always best to take your pets with you. If, as a last resort, you have to leave your pets behind, make sure you have a plan to ensure their care.

Seattle Public Library Urban Self Reliance Workshops

The Seattle Public Library is sponsoring a series of workshops on Urban Self-Reliance in October. Of particular interest is the one on Creating a Community Disaster Hub held at the Northgate Library on October 20th from 1-3 PM.

This workshop will discuss what neighborhoods just like yours are doing to build their hubs and a safety net that can be used in the event of any emergency -- whether it is a Cascadia quake or a winter storm.

We are in the process of creating six hubs for Ballard and Crown Hill. This is the perfect opportunity to learn what a hub is and how it can help you and your neighbors, as well as how you can help.

No registration is required. Just show up!

CERT Training - Update - already full!

The following training filled up in 4 hours!

Seattle's first public offering of CERT training has officially opened.  As many of you know The Seattle Office of Emergency Management as piloted two CERT trainings over the last year and are proud to offer up their first “official” CERT training for the City of Seattle.  The following is the schedule of Fall class:

CERT Training Schedule

Fall 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012                                         Introduction and Disaster Preparedness

6:00-9:00 PM                                                                    Seattle Office of Emergency Management

                                                                                                105 5^th Ave S., Seattle

Saturday, October 6, 2012                                          Utility Control and Fire Suppression

9:00-11:00 AM                                                                 Southwest Community Center,

2800 SW Thistle

Thursday, October 11, 2012                                      CERT Organization & Incident Command

6:00 – 9:00 PM                                                                 Seattle Office of Emergency Management

                                                                                                105 5^th Ave S., Seattle

Saturday, October 20, 2012                                       Light Search and Rescue

8:30 – 3:00 PM                                                                 Southwest Community Center

                                                                                                2800 SW Thistle

Thursday, October 25, 2012                                      Terrorism & Disaster Psychology

6:00 – 9:00 PM                                                                 Seattle Office of Emergency Management

                                                                                                105 5^th Ave S., Seattle

Saturday, October 27, 2012                                       Disaster First Aid

8:30-5:00 PM                                                                    Southwest Community Center

                                                                                                2800 SW Thistle

Thursday, November 1, 2012                                   Review & Final

5:30 – 9:00 PM                                                                 Seattle Office of Emergency Management

                                                                                                105 5^th Ave S., Seattle

A few things to keep in mind as you consider this opportunity:

·         You must complete all classes and pass the final to receive your CERT certificate.  If you know that you will be unable to attend a class we would ask that you hold off registering until you can make all classes.  The only exception to this is if you have taken one of our skills classes in the last year, you may choose to not take it again.

·         You may only register for yourself

·         Registration is on a first come/first serve basis and space is limited.

To register please go to SNAP@seattle.gov , We will have a wait list for the class in case of last minute cancellations, but that list  WILL NOT be maintained after the class has started.  We will be offering CERT training again in the Spring of 2013.

Exploring the role of seaplanes in disaster response

Prompted by a July 18th King 5 report that the Washington Seaplane Pilots Association is working with emergency responders and Whatcom County residents to see what role seaplanes could have in removing injured residents from remote or cut off areas,  the Ballard HubCaps reached out to the Seattle EOC managers and our advisory committee and asked "What role might seaplanes have for areas that become isolated in Ballard and the rest of Seattle?"

We have started a fascinating discussion about this - stay tuned!

Central Ballard Resident's Association hosting emergency preparedness meeting

Join CBRA representatives from 11am- 1pm on Saturday July 28th in the conference room of the Neighborhood Service Center located at 5604 22nd NW- next  door to the Ballard Library. Stop by to learn more about emergency preparedness!

West Seattle Emergency Preparedness Marches in Parade

The West Seattle team marched in their local parade raising awareness for their community.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNADNYy0QCg&feature=youtu.be

Great to see so many of you at SeaFoodFest!

We had a great team of volunteers join us a SeaFoodFest.

14 volunteers handed out 150 copies of the Pet Emergency Preparation materials, 425 of our Preparedness Promise handouts, and lots of other materials.   We had great conversations with our neighbors about things they do to be prepared.  Some are individualists, some have teamed together with neighbors and taken SNAP to a whole new level!  We got some great new ideas, we got 60 people interested in being volunteers for the emergency communications hubs, and 3 people new to Seattle learned that yes indeed, we have earthquakes here and that they should drop, cover and hold!

What is an emergency communications hub?  Hubs are volunteer run in our communities, and they communicate through the HAM network, to the Seattle Emergency Operations Center.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case we have some videos:

Link to Zander Beaumont award for his work in the Queen Anne Hubs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDTzHYHNb5M&feature=youtu.be

A view from inside the Emergency Operations Center during a ACS and Hubs drill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3MVrkjl0FE

Ballard area residents set to participate in national disaster response exercise

A team of national, regional, state and local agencies and organizations have undertaken an effort to develop, facilitate and evaluate a recurring series of disaster exercises entitled "Formidable Footprint".  This series of exercises serves as an opportunity for governmental agencies along with community and faith based organizations to assess their capability to prepare for, respond to and recover from a variety of natural disasters which affect communities and neighborhoods.

Several Ballard Area residents have signed up to participate, and we look forward to the expertise they will gain in this exercise.  More information. 

Then and now: links to 2011 photos and corresponding 2012 photos in some of Japan's most devastated areas

Some solid photography and a presentation that allows you to scroll between then and now from the same vantage point.

These photos have copyrights on them, so I will simply link to them, not repost any of them here.

Link to MSN photos

Community rallies to rebuild in Spicewood TX

From the Statesman in Austin TX - a wonderful example of a community coming together during and after wildfires that destroyed 45 homes in a community of 5,000 residents.

"Neighbors began banding together as soon as the fires threatened their homes. About 150 firefighters — many of whom went days without sleep — battled the fire for 11 days, said Chief Ken Van Rens of the Pedernales Fire Department. Mark Creaney Sr., a 62-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, said a handful of homeowners stayed behind to help fight the flames that consumed homes along Paleface Ranch Road. He credits them for saving his house.

In the scramble of the evacuation, residents also set up their own command posts and used a school bus routing map to keep track of where aid was needed, Creaney said. When scavengers and looters began prowling the area, residents of about 50 homes off Red Brangus Drive formed a makeshift neighborhood watch group that took turns doing surveillance over the area almost 24 hours a day."

Five Ballard community members attending Hub training at the EOC

Five Ballard community members attending a 3+ hour training session Saturday morning on emergency Hub operations.  Over 70 people from around the city attended this training run by volunteers and facilitated by the Seattle Office of Emergency Management.  Thanks to everyone who attended and worked on this.