Elizabeth Graham, one of the Laurelhurst Community Club Trustees focusing on emergency and disaster preparedness, sent us email about a drill she and two other Board members participated in recently at NE Seattle’s new Emergency Hub at the Hunter Farm Gathering Place.
She said that the Wedgewood Community invited Laurelhurst and several other northeast neighborhood representatives to participate in the citywide emergency drill organized through the City's Office of Emergency Management.
The goal was to experience and learn what was the situation in Laurelhurst would be like and what the Laurelhurst community could do to help family and neighbors stay safe.
Elizabeth is holding a one hour meeting tomorrow at7pm at her home (4723 NE 54th Street) to learn more about the drill and start working on a plan to organize the community if a large scale emergency ever took place.
As part of the recent drill, the participants were given a possible disater scenario that included a long winter storm in Seattle with snow and ice making traveling condtions nearly impossible and power out in many places, followed by 5.7 earthquake hit. Cellular and landline phone systems, as well as radio and televisions experienced failures due to infrastructure damage and power loss.
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is activated due to the widespread emergency and the Mayor has declared a disaster and has requested that the Governor send National Guard Troops to assist.
The LCC Trustees, along with Dan, a ham radio operator and staff member with ESCA (EmergencyServices Coordinating Agency) drove from Hunter Farms to the Laurelhurst Community Center and began a disaster assessment on the imaginary scenario as part of the drill.
The drill continued in Laurelhurst with a house that had partially fallen into a large sink hole and into the street and the trustees needed to determine the severity of the situation, determine what help was needed (fire/rescue, medical,police, public works) and report the problem to the HUB, which then relayed the needs in order of severity to the Emergency Operations Center which would send help within 72 hours.
"This is just the beginning of 3 Laurelhurst volunteer neighbors receiving a tiny training. What will Laurelhurst really do?" Elizabeth writes in her email to us.
For more information or to attend tomorrow's meeting contact Elizabeth at eg4723@hotmail.com.
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