The ongoing crisis in Japan is a good reminder that our neighborhood has a lot of work ahead to ready itself for a disaster. Mary Heim, who heads planning for emergency preparedness for Wallingford, will hold a meeting tonight (and every first Wednesday) about preparedness and how you can be involved.
The meeting is at 5:30 pm in the Wallingford Community Senior Center, lower level of the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.).
Heim sent some links that are worth your time:
- New York Times article about Japanese village that self organized after the tsunami
- YouTube video of the Japanese earthquake swarm. Note the large number of smaller earthquakes that preceded the 8.9 megathrust and then the constant swarm of 5-7 magnitude aftershocks.
- Natural Resources Canada site that shows recent earthquake activity: 30 days, 1 year, 5 year. Shows location and relative magnitude.
- Pacific Northwest earthquake monitoring site.
- Ongoing research in our region.
- Interactive preparedness quiz from San Francisco. How prepared are you?
Here’s the agenda for today’s meeting:
Update on events since our last meeting and current hub planning:
- Radio communications
- Community facing hub functions
Discuss our participation in upcoming preparedness events:
- April 8th – Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies – “Cascadia – the Hidden Fire” earthquake documentary followed by a slide presentation on the recent earthquake in Christ Church, New Zealand, community communication hubs, and open discussion.
- April 9th – City-wide preparedness summit, see announcement below.
- April 16th – Wallingford Spring Clean. Community preparedness will be hosting an information table and scavenger hunt. Green Lake will be hosting a communication hub outreach event at the Green Lake Community Center/path so we will be sending radio messages between hubs to demonstrate the concept.
This Saturday, April 9, is a citywide Community Preparedness Summit at the Seattle Office of Emergency Management 105 5th Ave S. (Corner of 5th Ave S. and S Washington). The public is encouraged to attend to learn about the levels of the Preparedness Pyramid (pictured above). The meeting runs 9:00 a.m. – noon; there’s an orientation 8:30 – 9:00 a.m. for those not familiar with Emergency Communications Hubs.
