UP Public Safety - Stay Informed

“Stay Informed” just sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

We are so connected. We get Tweets, flicks, and likes. We email, blog, and surf.  We are the most connected and informed generation in history, yet if I had to guess, most of our fellow citizens have never followed a link to a site that would prepare them for a disaster.  (Unless you count following celebrity train wrecks as disaster preparedness…)

You, on the other hand, are about to become INFORMED! Informed about what, you ask? Or perhaps you are asking, WHY should I be informed? Why should I climb out of my nice, warm, fuzzy, bubble-wrapped cocoon of ignorance and look at all of the terrible nasty things that can go wrong out there?  Hmmm… good question, actually. Ignorance is much more peaceful.

Until things go wrong.

Then, ignorance can get you killed. Which kinda sucks. Does this answer Why?

Let’s move on to What. What do you need to know? That’s easy. You need to know what to do before, during, and after a disaster. (In Emergency Management parlance, this is known as Preparation, Response, and Recovery.)  Let’s look at each of these…

BEFORE THE DISASTER

Before a disaster you will want to know what kind of disasters you may be faced with in the area you live, and how to prepare for them. For you displaced Midwesterners out there, I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of time preparing a tornado shelter here in the Pacific Northwest. If you live in the Puyallup Valley and hear a siren, the Lahar is coming from Mount Rainier and you had best get to high ground. Your tornado shelter is about to be encased under twenty feet of hot mud.

A good place to start is the City of UP website emergency management page.  It has some links to Pierce County DEM, FEMA, Fire, etc. If you didn’t already know, UP contracts with Pierce County for most emergency management services.

http://cityofup.com/Page43.aspx

Pierce County Emergency Management has links to some articles on disasters common to this area:

http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/abtus/ourorg/dem/pub%20ed/preparedness.htm

FEMA has an abundance of information on all types of disasters.  They have both a website that you can surf and a downloadable .pdf guide:

http://www.ready.gov/are-you-ready-guide/

DURING THE DISASTER

When the earth has just finished shaking, or the road has just washed out in the flood, I don’t think I will be immediately leaping on to my desktop computer to find FEMA’s website. Wouldn’t it be nice if somebody invented a way for emergency officials to contact you during the disaster or in the immediate aftermath? Oh wait, somebody has done that. It’s a nifty program called Pierce County Alert. You sign up for it and Pierce County will call / email / text you when you need to know something important. The cool part about the program is that it can be tailored to your preferences. Do you want to get notified about every significant road closure? Or not? You get to choose. You can provide the means by which you want to be notified – cell phone, landline, text, email, or any combination.  CodeRED is an additional emergency notification tool provided by the City of UP and is used primarily for crime prevention.  University Place citizens can register for both of these emergency notification tools by going to:

http://cityofup.com/Page289.aspxx

These two separate notification systems offer U.P. Citizens safety updates relevant to you in your neighborhood. Please take the time to sign up for BOTH programs. They are tremendously valuable insurance policies to help you protect your family and your property.

AFTER THE DISASTER

After the earthquake / fire / flood / name your horrible event, you will need to know how to get all better, or at least as better as you can given the circumstances. TV news, radio, Pierce County Alert, Code Red, UPTV, reader boards, etc., will all be working to communicate with you on what you should do next. I’d like to emphasize the radio part. If the power is out for an extended period of time, your cell phone will probably die unless you have a car charger (and gas in the car, and the car isn’t locked in the garage because the foundation shifted). A battery-powered or hand-cranked radio will be very helpful to staying abreast of current information. I’ve even heard of hand-cranked radios that have charger ports for cell phones. How cool is that? Anyway, assuming you have access to computing resources, Pierce County has a disaster blog that is activated as needed:

https://blog.co.pierce.wa.us/emergency/

This blog, and all of the other sources of info, will tell you where shelters are open, status of power outage repairs, where FEMA Disaster Recovery Offices can be found, distribution sites for supplies, etc.  Some of the local power companies also have Twitter accounts that you can follow. They update them fairly frequently with where they are working and status of repairs. Frankly, I’m still amazed at the capabilities now in use to communicate during a disaster. The inverse is also true – your government will want to hear from you. After the disaster, you will probably be made aware of ways (telephone, blog, etc.) where you can report damage, critical needs, even send photos of problems. This feedback is very important and helps the Powers That Be prioritize resources and recovery efforts.

That’s it for this week.  Sign up for Pierce County Alert and Code Red.  NOW.

CALENDAR

June 2nd – Public safety open house (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM)

June 20th – next meeting of the Public Safety Commission (6:00 PM) – May meeting is canceled

August 7th – National Night Out