Emergency Preparedness: After the quake —Neighbors helping neighbors

We KNOW sometime in the future we will be faced with a devastating earthquake or other major disaster. On the day it occurs, your task is to make sure you, your household and neighbors are safe, have shelter and basic first aid. The day after the disaster, you are to meet in the park by our brown hub box to activate our system to support one another until help arrives. This is the plan endorsed by the city.

The Madison Park volunteer emergency preparation and response team has reactivated, and we are encouraging neighbors to do three tasks to survive an earthquake. You can find resources for each of these on the Seattle Office of Emergency Management and Seattle Emergency Hubs websites listed below.

First, prepare your household, https://www.seattle.gov/emergency-management/prepare/prepare-yourself.

Second, get to know immediate neighbors on your block and organize yourself loosely into a SNAP, which stands for Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare, https://www.seattle.gov/emergency-management/prepare/prepare-your-neighborhood/seattle-neighborhoods-actively-prepare. This is like “block watch-plus,” where you have contact numbers and emails for each other and know some basic things like how many people and pets are in each household and who has special skills (e.g., contractor, nurse, doctor, electrician) or resources (e.g., generators, tents, satellite phones).

Third, participate in Madison Park Emergency HUB activities and read our Madison Park Times publications so you’ll know that the day after the earthquake you are to come to the park to offer or request help. At the hub, you will also be able to get updates from our Ham radio volunteers about critical infrastructure conditions (e.g., collapsed bridges, closed hospitals, where fires are out of control) and when we can expect federal and state rescue teams to arrive. You can also become one of the trained volunteers who will collect information on local situations, needs and resources and assist in getting those matched up with people in need after the quake.

Also needed are folks to work with our Madison Park team of amateur radio operators to relay information between other neighborhood Hubs and the Seattle Office of Emergency Management, http://seattleemergencyhubs.org/, https://www.seattle.gov/emergency-management/training.

In addition to the valuable training and resources posted here, join us for an upcoming neighborhood activity from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Madison Park Tennis Courts, where we will stage a hub drill as part of the Great Shakeout Day, https://www.shakeout.org/washington/. Come see us in action!

If you would like to be on our mailing list or become a volunteer with us, please contact Sarah Armstrong, saraharmstrong215@gmail.com, or Mary Beth McAteer, msimiele1@gmail.com.