Dana Armstrong
Imagine this: the Big One we’ve long expected in Seattle arrives. According to the U.S. Geological Survey website, an earthquake feels like “a sudden large jolt followed quickly by more strong shaking that may last a few seconds or up to a couple of minutes if it’s a rare great event. The shaking will feel violent, and it will be difficult to stand up. The contents of your house will be a mess.”
Initially, you’ll need a few seconds to comprehend what just happened. Assuming you are uninjured (fingers crossed), the first thing you’ll likely do is assess the well-being of any nearby loved ones, including pets. Are they safe? Do they need any help? After that, you will likely rush outside to see how your immediate surroundings fared — and perhaps check on neighbors and nearby businesses. It might be difficult to get out of the building you’re in, depending on how severe the quake was. You might have to walk over rubble or debris. And you have to prepare for possible aftershocks.
And at some point, you’ll likely grab your phone to reach out to other locals (or faraway relatives, to let them know you’ve just survived a major event). Perhaps you’ll open the Seattle Times app to see what kind of earthquake just happened.
But what if you see a “No Service” message on your phone? What if — horrors — the internet is down? And what if you can’t even text? Most crucially, what happens if you have problems that need solving and can’t reach out to others the way you usually do?
Luckily, the city, anticipating just this kind of situation, came up with the innovative concept of volunteer-run Emergency Communications Hubs: central predesignated locations where neighbors can meet when regular communications channels fail. So, in some neighborhoods, there is a plan for what to do (beyond frantically hitting the refresh button) when your internet or cell service is down for an extended time and things are less than hunky-dory in your environment — because critical resources like water, power, warmth and safety have been compromised.
THE HUB: WHERE TO GO WHEN THINGS GO SOUTH
As regular column readers know, if this kind of situation strikes, we Hub volunteers hope and plan — once all our ducks are in their proverbial rows and we and our loved ones are safe — to go set up (“mobilize”) our local Hub so that neighbors can meet up there. This means we’ll leave our homes (if we’re still in ’em) each day of the disaster and go to our Hub location to help however we can. Most Hubs are near a park or public area: the one where I volunteer is near Madison Park’s tennis courts and there’s another close by, at Madison Valley’s MLK FAME Center.
At our Hub, we’ll set up tables and canopies with designated stations (like Resources, Volunteers, Info, Education, and Radio) to help neighbors communicate “old school” — using paper, pens, whiteboards, and markers. Hubs are designed to connect people’s wants and needs in as organized a way as possible. In an emergency, the city might not be able to get to our area as fast as we’d like to offer aid and supplies, so we anticipate a strong need for a resource like this. (It’s also a pretty interesting hobby.)
On Sept. 22, we ran a full practice drill, mobilizing the Madison Park Hub with the help of numerous volunteers — mostly from other Hubs around the city. We set up our canopies and tables, donned bright orange vests, and staffed our stations, then asked other volunteers acting as “neighbors” to walk up and help us practice by playacting typical scenarios we might run into in a real disaster, preprinted on little slips of paper. One example: “A large tree branch fell on my shed where my emergency supplies are stored. Does anyone have a gas-powered chain saw I could borrow?” Another: “I’m a licensed mental health care counselor. Is there anything I can do to help?” We filled out forms with their information to (pretend to) connect wants and needs.
All in all, our drill went well and we learned a lot. We smoothed out some kinks in the system (and ran into some new ones) and tried out some innovations (like group brainstorming a challenging problem and sending radio-equipped scouts into the neighborhood to see what local businesses had in stock). And most important, we got to practice helping our “neighbors” connect in a pretend disaster.
We’ve seen from the recent North Carolina hurricane news that neighbors will naturally gravitate to a central meeting place in a disaster for precisely this reason — to give and take what’s needed. In one town, they began meeting up at an independent bookstore, posting wants and needs and sharing skills just as we hope to do in our Hub. I’m very glad that we are planning this out in Seattle. (If you’re not in the Madison Park/Valley area, go to seattleemergencyhubs.org to find out where your nearest Hub might be.)
This is all very well and good, but we hardly ever have earthquakes …
Per our Department of Natural Resources, most of the populated areas of the state have a 40-80% chance of having an earthquake in the next 50 years. If you’re thinking, “well, 50 years is a long time; I’ll take my chances,” realize that even if the Big One doesn’t hit, any extended power outage could hit us hard with an unavailable internet, no charge for our phones and computers, and no heat/refrigeration for foods (not to mention that stores might not open). And there’s always the possibility —dare I even say it — of a cyber-attack similar to the one that hit Sea-Tac airport back in August, which had effects lasting weeks. We might want to have a plan in our back pockets —f or our homes, our cars, and, yes, our neighborhoods. Consider learning more about your local Hub.
POSTSCRIPT
Speaking of earthquakes, I hope you practiced emergency maneuvers during Oct. 17’s Big ShakeOut (discussed in last month’s column). Did you manage a successful Drop, Cover, and Hold On? If you missed the maneuver, try this. Immediately after you read this sentence, wherever you are, try it now! Imagine that an earthquake is starting, right now. You have just seconds to act. Drop to the floor, duck under the closest sturdy object, and hold on to anything you can. Assess how safe you would be if the ground started shaking. Did you survive? Were you injured? (You didn’t expect me to ask this, did you? Well, you never do expect an earthquake, so preparing at a random time is exceptional practice.)
As always, this column is part of Madison Park Emergency Hub’s outreach effort. We’re an all-volunteer org focused on neighbors helping neighbors in an emergency. If you’d like to get involved with a group of neighbors who want to help people and talk disasters, it’s a light lift and a lot of fun. Mail us at madparkhub@gmail.com with questions or to get on our mailing list.