Tag Archives: emergency communications

Preparing for a massive earthquake in the Pacific Northwest

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To prepare for a devastating earthquake, many organizations throughout the Northwest will practice responding to a 9.0 magnitude quake during a readiness drill this week. The drill will start on Tuesday, June 7 with this scenario: a massive earthquake strikes near Eugene, OR, damaging areas throughout the Northwest and triggering a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean.

Known as Cascadia Rising, this emergency preparedness drill is the largest in the Northwest and will include about 20,000 people from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia. The exercise assumes a worst-case scenario in which bridges and roads are closed, power is out and water covers lowland areas. Local, state and federal agencies will practice moving food and water, conducting search and rescue operations, communicating on ham radios and more during this four-day megaquake and tsunami drill.

#CascadiaEQ Tweetchat

Scientists, emergency personnel and others are sharing information about earthquakes, communications and what to do after a quake on Twitter today. Follow #cascadiaeq to ask questions, share information about previous quakes and learn more. Here’s an example:

shakeout

Be prepared

The Cascadia Rising event is a good reminder for people to have emergency kits with food and water at home, work and in the car. Here’s how to build a kit for at least 7 days to make it through the “big one.”

For more information:

 

Hashtags help in emergency communications: #Wawildfire and #WAWildfires

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President Obama declared a state of emergency for 11 counties and several Indian reservations in Washington. As wildfires continue to rage in central and eastern Washington, residents evacuate and fire fighters and emergency responders arrive from Washington and around the country. Many of us know friends or family who live here or who came to help.

Social media is helping keep people informed about where the wildfires are, the status of evacuations, and requests for volunteers and other help. The hashtag #Wawildfire lets people search for information quickly.

When the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requested citizen volunteers to help fight the wildfires for the first time ever, a huge number of people showed up, overwhelming the volunteer centers. Thank you for your support! More information about how you can volunteer to fight wildfires is available on DNR’s website.

Information is also available in Spanish:

Our hearts hurt for the residents surrounded by fires and for the three fire fighters who lost their lives. Now that the area is declared a state of emergency, we hope that the wildfires will be contained and put out soon. We’ll continue to follow #Wawildfire and #WAWildfires for more information. Thank you again to the brave professional and volunteer firefighters from WA and around the country. We are proud and grateful.

Today’s Seattle Times article lists ways you can help.