Volunteer effort is impressive, but are you prepared? | Editorial
Published 12:19 pm Tuesday, December 17, 2013
When it comes to disaster preparedness, Vashon is doing pretty well. Should a major storm, earthquake or other catastrophe strike the island, volunteers are ready to staff our local Emergency Operations Center and direct emergency efforts. The island has a robust volunteer fire department to respond to events, and Voice of Vashon is ready to disseminate important information. Designated shelters will open up, and workers trained in the Community Emergency Response Team will spring to action when needed. Since the early 2000s, the volunteer-run VashonBePrepared has coordinated local disaster preparedness efforts, led in the creation of an emergency management plan for the island and campaigned to get islanders thinking about their own personal readiness and neighborhood readiness for a large-scale disaster. Their latest effort is to get businesses better prepared to weather a crisis.
Shelby Edwards — the experienced crisis management and emergency preparedness expert featured in a story on today’s front page — recently told The Beachcomber she’s never seen a community as prepared as ours. Shelby certainly hasn’t been everywhere, but we’re not surprised to hear she’s impressed by what’s going on Vashon. But just because the island is well organized around preparedness thanks to some dedicated volunteers doesn’t mean the island as a whole is prepared for a disaster. When storms head our way, scores of people still flock to the stores for candles, batteries, food, fuel and other supplies, suggesting many are actually far from ready for an emergency, be it a short power outage or major earthquake, and haven’t considered what steps would better prepare them.
Research suggests that the Northwest is due for a large earthquake that is expected to topple buildings and devastate the region. VashonBePrepared volunteers have preached for years that if we prepare our homes and families for this quake, often dubbed “the big one,” as a result we’ll also be prepared for the “little ones,” less serious events such as the winter storms that have been known to leave islanders stuck at home and knock out power to some areas for days.
While the content of today’s special section on preparedness was gathered largely by VashonBePrepared and relentless volunteer Rick Wallace, we believe the information is vital. Preparedness is especially important here on Vashon, a place with fewer resources than the mainland and a place that could easily be cut off from the mainland should a large-scale emergency shut down the ferries. Read through the pages of the Winter Ready Handbook and think about what your family would do should you lose power for a week, be snowed or iced in for a stretch or — though we hope it won’t happen — should an earthquake damage your home and take out our island infrastructure. When disaster strikes, our volunteers will be busy, but many of us will be on our own to get by. Thinking ahead could make all the difference.
