Recovery is a Long Road...

Transportation Safety Board of Canada

I came across a story this weekend on the train wreck in Quebec Canada and was struck by two things.  First that it had been a year since that happened, and what a horrible disaster, a town literally  blown off the map.  And the second thing was in the story they mentioned that they were getting ready to commemorate the event but "Many townspeople aren't ready for it."

So in our short attention span world of 30 second sound bite news and expecting your coffee order in seconds, how long do you think it will take you & your community to recover from whatever disaster that could befall it? Whether it is something like a tornado, earthquake or tornado or even a train derailment in the dark of night, how will you recover? And what will you do when the one year anniversary comes and you still aren't whole? 

Some things to think about: 

• When was the last time you reviewed your insurance with your agent? 
• What is his/her name & phone number?
• Where is your policy? Is it some place safe in case your house is affected (that's what the policy is for, right, so why keep it in the house)?
• How will your family reconnect if separated?
• What if you can't reenter your neighborhood for days? Weeks? Ever?
• Does your local government have a plan to help the city recover?

So not a panic point, just take the extra time this weekend to think about these questions.  And please don't dismiss this as "it can't happen here", these communities and others are still in recovery:

Sandy recovery 

Moore Oklahoma recovery

Quebec


Disaster Dave

Its times like this that things look different

For those of us in the Seattle area it has been a long two weeks, with the slide in Oso Washington touching all of us in some way.  But once we step back from the response and take a day off and look at our beautiful area, I tend to take the beauty at face value, but under the beautiful hillside is...    Don't get me wrong your local public servants in emergency management take this personally, we spend our time trying to educate you and our elected officials to the dangers in our beautiful state.
The things that make our state and region beautiful are some of the same things that can in the least make life hard or even kill you.  A fellow emergency manager, Eric Holdeman wrote a great piece this week on why you won't listen entitled Living with Risk: but don't you love the views . You should read it and decide which one you are.
I know there hasn't been a major earthquake here in your life time, but your life time is not the measuring stick of when a quake will strike, but it could end your life.  Sorry I digress.

Lets just assume you fall into one of the categories in Eric's article and be done with it.  So if you  are determined to live on the side of a hill, or a few feet from the ocean, or in a high rise, at least do a few things to up the odds in case you are wrong.

Look for things you can do to minimize danger.
You live on or under a hillside:

• Pay attention to the weather - more rain = more chance of a slide
• Get involved in the community make sure the politicians are aware that you are aware
• Seek a professional on putting plants that will hold the ground and drink water
• do some internet research on your home area

You live on the ocean/sound:

• Have an emergency radio turned on and turned up loud
• Learn about Tsunamis and what your danger level is
• Pay attention to King Tides tables

 You live on a river:

• Have an emergency radio turned on and turned up loud
• Learn about the threat to your home
• Search for your county name flood warning and save that site

Because it can happen here
prayers for those lost in Oso and their families
disaster_dave 

Three Years since 3-11

I have written a couple of posts, and done several presentations on lessons learned from my time spent responding to Typhoon Yolonda in the Philippines; there were some good reinforced learning points for us. If you want to see a disaster (and recovery) that is more in line with what we in the Northwest will experience you need to look no further than the Earthquake and Tsunami Japan suffered just three years ago.

This morning the Seattle Times ran a good piece on where Japan is three years after the Tsunami.  Why just the Tsunami, because the quake really didn't on its own do much damage, the Tsunami on the other hand caught their planners off guard, and many perished, and many more were displaced as their homes near the water were destroyed.  Read the article in the hyperlink above, I'll wait for you here!

So what have we done here? Lots of planning, exercises and thought has gone into what we will have to deal with. And much more needs to happen, but the bigger question is what have you as individuals done to prepare?  If you have read any of my other blog posts you know I believe in the individual being prepared. 

Recovery WILL take a long time. I talk a lot about the things we take for granted in our daily life, look HERE to see how long it will take to get basic utilities back.  Seriously, 1-3 years for our major roadways.

The problem we in Emergency Management have selling this as a REAL event to the general public is, well ...apathy coupled "with it hasn't happened since 1700 and it won't happen".  But what if it does and you haven't done anything? Not only will you feel stupid, you may also cause you or your family to suffer more than they had to.

How big was the Tsunami compared to say "The Hammering Man" 

disaster_dave

CREW - a great site for resources and explanations 

What if your disaster gets out classed (or people forget)

What happens if you are in the process of recovering from your disaster and a larger (more sexy) disaster occurs?

I was in the Philippines recently deployed as a volunteer response team member  for ShelterBox.  I was assigned a mission to do follow up from the Bohol 7.1 earthquake, which got upstaged by Typhoon Yolanda. The Philippines largest Earthquake in 23 years upstaged by the strongest Typhoon ever.
Many of the people of Bohol that I talked with felt that after only three weeks the aid agencies left for the bigger (sexier) disaster. 

In defense of the aid agencies the death toll was 200 vs 6000+ dead and they didn't leave, they moved appropriate (in most cases) assets to the bigger event.

So how do you keep the focus on your disaster? Maybe you can't; but you can prepare to do what you can.

Have a plan before it happens, have the players ready to begin recovery as soon as something happens.
Have the political players in the loop early to keep the focus on your event.
Have your Public Affairs folks working to keep getting the message out, covering the local response angle.

Try this test. Write down places and events that are disasters right now.  Then go to one of the international aid groups and see where they are? What are they doing? Did you realize that happened? Was on going? People were suffering?

Now imagine that is your disaster and most people have forgotten about it?

DisasterDave

Life goes on around you

Destroyed home in Loon, Bohol

I returned from the Philippines last Saturday and have been thinking about what to share,
and there are a couple of things of interest for this blog. 

My past disaster experiences have been in the immediate aftermath of the event.  But for this deployment we are two months on from the event and in a different case 3 months on. 

When I arrived in Cebu it was apparent that this was not a disaster area.  I left and went to Bohol Island with my partner to do follow up on the 7.1 Earthquake in October(3 months on).  We checked into our hotel in the main city, no cracks, no damage to see.  

But 1.5 hours up the road it was a different story. Buildings down, bridges down, large landslides, it was a mess.  As we worked through the disaster area verifying there were still people in need, I kept seeing people along the main road digging a trench by hand.  Finally I asked someone what part of the recovery that was; oddly enough it was a project to bring high speed Internet to Loon (city we worked in) that had started before the quake.  

This popped up again when I was working in the port to clear our containers through customs and the port.  They were back to business as usual; we were still in disaster mode.  All around us life was getting back to normal.

So what happens when you are still working on your disaster and life 10-40 miles away is normal? Some things to think about:

• Don’t let them forget you are still working on recovery, don’t rub their face in it, but do let them know things aren’t back to normal

• Do ask for help; I did at the port I told the people helping me I was bring in aid for their countrymen, it did move things along (I still had to pay, but it moved along).

• Report out on what has been done and what is left to do. (If you are following ShelterBox you will see we do that on a regular basis.  We plan to be working in the Philippines until April on this disaster, we need to remind people it happened and 6,000 + people lost heir lives and millions lost homes and businesses).

That’s all for now

It’s not over till you say it is

Disasterdave

It's an hour after a disaster; do you know where your children are?

In November 2013 FEMA in partnership with Department of Health & Human Service and the Red Cross and several other organizations released Post Disaster Reunification of Children: A Nationwide Approach.

This document listed lots of roles (responsibility's) for  local, State, Federal governments and Non Profit partners in caring for and reuniting children with their families after a disaster.  They did not assign any "roles" to the parents.  The intent of the document is to make sure everything is done to accomplish that, but it starts with you the parent. You don't have to read it, but if you wish you can find it at the hyperlink above. 
Having had unaccompanied minors show up at a shelter is not a good feeling, it is a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.  So what can you do so the government doesn't have to do anything or at least make their job easier.

1. Have a family disaster plan. I have written about this before and it is where everything starts. As the report points out, not only have a plan but "child reunification cards" a simple card with contact info (including an out of area contact) and places to meet.
2. Talk to your child care facility and/or schools. What are their plans? Ask to see them? Make sure ALL of your contact info is on file with the school/child care facility. 

3. Know your children's friends family's (an extension of know your neighbors). 

4. What is your local emergency managements plan for reunification? Remember the "roles" I talked about? Ask some questions.
 
5. Do you have a medical care waiver signed at your son's school or child care facility?
Read up on HIPAA and FERPA so you are informed, both of these are designed to protect privacy but are often misquoted and/or misunderstood.  

6. Always heed warnings from local emergency managers or  the weatherman. Make sure everyone leaves home prepared as possible for the day.  This may not seem like part of the plan, but it is!
 
7. And of course please do talk to your children (and spouse, parents, etc) about disasters and the planning you have taken to make sure everyone is safe.
This is one New Years item to take care of soonest.

DisasterDave

Know Thy Neighbor

It has been awhile since I posted in this blog, I thought maybe I had talked it out; but after the Philippines double disaster (Earthquake followed by a super Typhoon) I started to think more about total disaster.  What would I really do if things were completely destroyed to the point that we could not get a functioning city back in weeks.  

A lot of the stories coming out of the Philippines are about neighbor helping neighbor, it made me think would that happen here?  And then I saw this article and thought "maybe not"  "Seattle is one of the loneliest cities".  

If we won't even talk to each other in the market/bar/public transit, how will you fare in a disaster, having to introduce yourself to your neighbor you have lived next to for years to ask for help.  Do you know if your neighbor(s) have health concerns? In firmed? Have latch key kids? 
Do your neighbors know about you?  
A book that explores that questions is Heat Wave by Eric Klinenberg where he delves into the high rate of deaths in a massive heatwave in Chicago in 1995 that killed over 700 people. Many died alone because they didn't have family or know anyone who would check on them.  A sad story of people alone.  So again I ask do you know your neighbors? Would someone check on you in a heatwave or power outage?

And just one more story Being sociable could save your life in a disaster

Make it a point this holiday season to meet your neighbors (its a great excuse) they may look at you like you want something, but give it a shot, say hi, lend a hand. Don't do nothing, what if your neighbor is a doctor or better yet  prepper.

Happy Holiday

Thanks for reading

Disaster Dave