(2017 West Seattle Bee Festival photo by Karen Berge)

The photo is from last May’s West Seattle Bee Festival, with Cindi Barker teaching kids about preparedness via the “Wheel of Misfortune.” Cindi’s been volunteering for many years to organize and teach fellow West Seattleites how to be ready for disasters and other emergencies – and to share that knowledge with others outside this area – and we just received this announcement that she’s won a national award!

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that Cindi Barker has been selected as one of the 11 Individual and Community Preparedness Award recipients from around the country.

Cindi Barker was chosen to receive the 2017 Community Preparedness Champions Award for her development of Emergency Communication hubs and the creation of the “Hub-in-a-Box” program for Seattle, Washington residents. Earthquakes are a high risk for Seattle residents due to multiple fault lines in the area. To help residents prepare for disaster, Ms. Barker started developing Emergency Communication hubs. These hubs are agreed-upon meeting places where people can gather, organize, and strategize to help one another in the event of a major earthquake. Recently, she concentrated her efforts in predominantly lower socioeconomic areas to facilitate their preparedness efforts. This resulted in the creation of the “Hub-in-a-Box” Program, an effort to help communities easily prepare hubs. Seattle has roughly 135 Emergency Communication hubs spread throughout the city.

“FEMA is proud to recognize the great efforts of individuals and organizations who are helping to create a national culture of preparedness,” said Sharon Loper, Acting Administrator FEMA Region 10. “When we work together in our communities, we are stronger, and more resilient.”

Cindi Barker was recognized by Sharon Loper on Wednesday, September 27 to congratulate her on her efforts. Additionally, Cindi and all award recipients will be recognized in a webinar hosted by FEMA’s Individual and Community Preparedness Division. Awardees will be invited to share their experiences, success stories, and lessons learned with fellow emergency management leaders.

Emergency management is most effective when the whole community is engaged and involved. Faith-based organizations, service agencies, businesses and associations, tribal organizations, youth and older Americans, and people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs, can make a real difference in their communities before, during, and after disasters. Each year, FEMA honors individuals and organizations who excel at inspiring the public to be ready if a tornado, hurricane, wildfire, or other disaster were to strike their community.

You can read more about the hubs here – and be sure to make note of the one nearest your residence!

P.S. Cindi is active with West Seattle Be Prepared, whose other leaders Karen Berge and Deb Greer talked about the hubs and other preparedness issues at last night’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting (WSB coverage here).

The storm scenes from Houston might have convinced you to review your disaster preparedness. Local preparedness advocate Cindi Barker shares word of a unique opportunity that’s not in West Seattle but might be helpful because this kind of training isn’t being offered by the city of Seattle at all any more. She summarizes it as “a special class offered for people who have access issues (ADA, seniors, learning barriers) so that they can take a class and train in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) skills, (which) can still be used by people at any time to respond to a disaster.” The Accessible CERT class is happening in Redmond, three full days:

It is a CERT class trained using a variety of learning styles. It is based on the concept of universal accessibility. It is designed for any person who self-identifies as having a disability and members of advocate groups for people with disabilities. Of course, all are welcome!

The class is three days long. Friday, September 29th, through October 1st, 2017. The first two days are interactive classroom training. The third day, participants will respond as a team to a staged mock disaster.

The entire course is free of charge, will have full accessibility, sign-language interpreters, lunch is included, and we will cover the cost of transportation for individuals with disabilities if requested.

Again, it’s free, but registration is required, and spaces are limited – go here. (Even more details are available via this fact-sheet flyer.)

Thanks to Eric Baer for pointing out that a recent series of earthquakes just across Puget Sound in the Bremerton area continued with another one at 12:35 am today, and some “felt it here” reports came in from West Seattle.

It wasn’t a major quake – but magnitude 3.6 isn’t a microquake, either. If you felt it, geologists would like to hear from you – here’s the link. One day earlier, a magnitude-3.4 quake hit the same area at 1:14 am; you can see the recent series of quakes by zooming in on this map.

P.S. This is just another reminder that we’re in earthquake country, so we’re reminding you about Neighborhood Emergency Communication Hubs – volunteer-organized gathering spots that would be activated if a major quake or other emergency interfered with regular channels of communication. This map shows you the 13 hubs in our area – click the one nearest you to see where it is, and make sure your families and neighbors know about it.

With an earthquake drill this morning, and what you might consider a “storm drill” last weekend, preparedness may well be on your mind. Today, we have news about West Seattle’s Emergency Communication Hubs:

The newest Hub, in The Junction, will be set up for an “opening” event this Sunday, noon-3 pm, so you can visit and get familiar with the concept. It’s in the Hope Lutheran Church parking lot, off SW Oregon just east of 42nd SW [map]. Even if that’s not the one closest to you, if you don’t know about the Hubs, now’s as good a time as ever. From the explanation on westseattlebeprepared.org (an awesome overall preparedness resource):

The Emergency Communication Hubs are locations around West Seattle which have been designated by neighborhood leaders and volunteers as community gathering sites if a major disaster makes it impossible to get information and help in the usual ways. These are locations that are easy to find and familiar to most people in each of these neighborhoods.

We’ve chosen outdoor locations because many buildings may be unsafe following an earthquake or similar type of disaster. After buildings have been checked for damage and deemed safe/usable, they will very likely be used as shelters. The Emergency Communication Hubs will be the initial gathering locations, since they can be predetermined for each neighborhood.

If you don’t see one close to you on the map – it’s because nobody has stepped up to get one going! Here’s information on how to get started.

P.S. The new Junction Hub had a preview event back in June, during a quake-scenario drill for which hubs were “activated” around the city.

Here’s hoping you are already ready for the stormy weather that’s on the way. But storm trouble is just one of the challenges you need to be prepared for. And you’re invited to find out about being ready for almost anything, via a free class that longtime WSB sponsor John Moore @ Northwest Insurance Group is presenting later this month:

6-8 pm Monday, October 24th @ The Kenney (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW):

Northwest Insurance Group is sponsoring a Disaster Preparedness Presentation and will have a guest speaker from the American Red Cross. Lucia Scordamaglia will bring sample supplies/kits and provide plenty of information and handouts addressing how to best prepare for winter storms, earthquakes, house fires, flooding, landslides, and other disasters that disrupt our day-to-day lives.

RSVP to John Moore – johnm@nwinsgroup.com

Get your RSVP in ASAP to be sure there’ll be room.

It’s the last week of Preparedness Month and we have two related notes today:

RED CROSS LESSONS: That trailer is parked by Hope Lutheran Church right now because of what’s happening inside: With the help of the West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs, local churches that participate in the Westside Interfaith Network are learning from the Red Cross about “how a faith-based organization would set up a temporary shelter for local people while the bigger, official response to a big disaster gets organized.” While the Red Cross’s mission is to help, it’s a supporting role, and in case of disaster, churches and other community organizations will be on the front lines first.

DISASTER RELIEF BIKE TRIALS: When Seattle Summer Parkways gets going on Alki tomorrow at 11 am, that also will mark the start of the Disaster Relief Bicycle Trials. If an earthquake (among other things) strikes, roads might be impassable to larger vehicles, but bicycle riders can go where cars can’t, and so the Seattle DRT is geared toward giving riders some practice for the possibility of having to help someday. Four West Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs will be “activated” for the occasion, and the ride also will include activities such as “Zombie Apocalypse Survival.” (Who can resist that?) Ride if you can; cheer them on if you can’t, 11 am at the main stage area of SSP near 61st SW/Alki.

(WSB photos)

No helicopters at this earthquake drill – it was all about the people. Neighborhood Emergency Communication Hubs around the city “activated” today, including the one behind Neighborhood House’s High Point Center.

We previewed this one earlier in the week – “citizen actors” were sought to help, and organizers tell us more than 70 volunteers showed up. But it wasn’t the stereotypical drill where volunteers were splayed out on the grass hamming it up, pretending to be hurt – in this case, they were asked to show up with a specific request for information or help, and work their way through the hub setup. In some cases, they were assessed for the skills they could offer:

That’s Lynda, who has first-aid skills and multiple language skills – both of which would be useful in case of catastrophe. And of course, there was a radio tent too:

The High Point hub was in communication with other hubs around the city, as would happen in a real disaster. The hubs are meant to be places where neighbors can help neighbors, knowing that if something major happened, the official rescuers would be stretched too thin to come to the rescue immediately, if ever.

So be sure to know where your nearest hub is (see the map above) – just in case. And if there’s not one near you, consider volunteering to organize one – West Seattle’s newest hub, by Hope Lutheran in The Junction, had an info-table today just to start raising awareness:

Here’s how to start a hub.

If you went to the overlook at Jack Block Park expecting to see nonstop activity during today’s aerial-rescue drill, you would have been disappointed. But every so often, helicopters did take off – during the span of about half an hour, we saw the military chopper above, as well as the Airlift Northwest medevac helicopter below:

On the otherwise mostly empty expanse of T-5 – popular with drills since it’s closed as a cargo terminal while the port prepares to expand its facilities and capabilities – land-based emergency vehicles were in view, including a Seattle Police Mobile Precinct larger than the van-style one based at the Southwest Precinct.

Seattle Fire led today’s drill and tweeted a photo of the big show (which came after we had already left to check out the Myers/Olson car flip) – rescuers hoisted on a platform:

(You might also have seen some of the aerial activity in southeast West Seattle – while covering the aforementioned crash, we spotted the same military helicopter over SFD’s Joint Training Facility.) This was part of Cascadia Rising, the weeklong regional drill – years in the planning – practicing scenarios based on the 9.0 megaquake that scientists think will hit someday.

This morning we also stopped by the grass-roots Emergency Communication Hubs drill that happened citywide, including a West Seattle location, and that report’s coming up.

15 years ago this morning, at 10:54 am on February 28, 2001, the 6.8-magnitude Nisqually Earthquake hit. Here’s some of what it did in West Seattle.

Nothing anywhere that big has shaken us since. But someday, sometime, one will. So we’re talking today about being ready. This map can help:

The markers on it – 13 of them now – show you the sites of West Seattle Be Prepared‘s 13 Neighborhood Emergency Communication Hubs. Find the one nearest you – and make sure everyone you care about knows about it. (If there’s not one near you, you can help launch one.) If a huge disaster hits, and the usual communication channels are cut off, these are places you can go to find out how to get help, how to offer help, etc., as explained here (and in even more detail here).

Our area was a pioneer in the “hubs” movement, which has expanded to other areas of our city, and is expected to continue growing. They’re for everyone, whether you’ve been here days, weeks, years, or decades – next month, for example, a hub-training event is planned for one of our area’s bigger new apartment complexes, as the hub in The Junction is finalized, and if it’s successful, it will be repeated for other interested apartment communities in the area.

Being ready, ultimately, is personal – have a kit, have a plan. This isn’t something someone will do “for” you. West Seattle Be Prepared is a volunteer community effort. We checked with its organizers to find out what else is new regarding local preparedness, as we mark the quake anniversary today.

This year, WSBP’s Cindi Barker tells us, is about partnerships and getting connected:

*They’re working with local churches about being partners in preparedness and in response in case it’s needed – including how to become a Red Cross shelter

*You’ll see WSBP at spring/summer community festivals as usual – starting with the West Seattle Bee Festival on May 21st and the Morgan Junction Community Festival on June 18th

*In June, WSBP will host a Business Continuity workshop for members of the West Seattle Junction Association, Barker says, “to teach our local businesses what a Business Continuity Plan is, why it’s important and point them to free-ware so they can either do one with us at a follow-up brown-bag event, or so they can do it on their own.”

*Also in June, some of the West Seattle hubs will be part of a major citywide drill on June 11th, “in loose conjunction with the big Cascadia Rising regional exercise” (which is happening June 7-10th, playing out the scenario of a megaquake/tsunami)

*Potential fall event related to what Barker says “is a training program being released this summer for local medical clinics and personnel, to teach them about their important role in the communities during a disaster.” As she says, the bottom line remains, they’ll be needed!

SPEAKING OF BEING NEEDED:

*Are you a ham-radio operator? Know someone who is? The Auxiliary Communication Service needs more in West Seattle to become part of the team. E-mail seattleacs1@gmail.com

*Part of a SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare), Block Watch or CERT group? Put yourself on the citywide map to get connected!

SPEAKING OF GETTING CONNECTED:

*Along with the West Seattle Be Prepared website, WSBP has a Facebook group.

P.S. If you didn’t know – there’s an online seismogram at Alki Point; you can check any time for recent quakes around the region by going here.