Improve disaster preparedness

By Peter F. Carpenter

The District and its three underlying communities (Atherton, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park) do not have an integrated disaster plan

2 - The elected officials of the Fire District, Menlo Park, Atherton and East Palo Alto do not have an integrated plan for political leadership in the event of a community wide disaster.

3 - The emergency services of these jurisdictions do not have an integrated operations plan in the event of a disaster and they lack full communications inter operability.

4 - Our geography, topography and the nature of our local transportation infrastructure are such that, in the event of a major disaster, we could well be isolated for a significant period of time.

5 - Any elected official who assumes that FEMA will provide timely disaster assistance is dreaming or being irresponsible or both.

6 - We should not expect any significant outside assistance for the first 7-10 days and even longer if the disaster is widespread and initial response efforts are focused on the larger cities.

7 - Prior integrated planning involving all four jurisdictions and the exercise of those plans is essential if we as local officials are going to be prepared to act appropriately.

8 - Our emergency personnel, superb as they are, will be overwhelmed in a community wide disaster and those who are on duty at the time that the disaster occurs will not be able to continue on duty for an indefinite period of time. Many of the off duty personnel, given the widely dispersed residences of these personnel, will probably not be available to relieve the on duty personnel.

9 - Most of our normal communication systems should be assumed to be inoperable and we should plan, test and put in place communication systems, including runners and neighborhood bulletin boards, that do not depend on telephones, cell phones, radios, electricity or motor vehicles.

10 - We have no documented, tested and disseminated evacuation plans. Such plans will need to make special provisions for the unusually high number of elderly and incapacitated people in our communities as well as those who do not have any form of personal transportation.

11 - We have no documented, tested and disseminated community shelter plans.

12 - Providing timely information and guidance to our citizens will be a very high priority and to do that we must both have accurate information about what has happened and about what will be happening to aid and assist citizens who have been impacted by the disaster. If we abrogate this critical responsibility to either the media or to County, State or Federal authorities then we will no longer be in a position to provide local leadership.

13 - In the absence of local leadership and good information we should expect significant civil unrest including looting and other crimes.

14 - Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) with pre positioned supplies will be essential to any rescue and recovery . These CERTs could also provide a structure for neighbor communication and civil harmony if we begin to build that capability into their training. We currently have far too few trained CERT team members and some areas, particularly Atherton, have practically none.

15 - Local business are an important disaster recovery resource but they must be included in our planning effort if we are to take advantage of their capabilities.

16 - There are no existing plans to address the above issues on a community wide basis.