PORT ANGELES — Duct tape and plastic wrap are nothing new in the realm of emergency preparedness.
But local emergency coordinators say what’s more important than safeguarding against a terrorist attack is being prepared for any disaster — be it earthquake, flood or bioterrorism.
“Life has changed for us,” Clallam County Emergency Coordinator Joe Ciarlo said Wednesday. “We all need to be aware of our surroundings.”
Ciarlo and Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen, who is also the city’s emergency manager, say people have become “complacent” in the wake of major disasters, neglecting to restock their supply kits and sinking into comfort that local emergency responders will assist them immediately if necessary.
“Typically, after about three or four weeks from the event, the interest (in preparedness) begins to dwindle,” McKeen said.
Ciarlo and McKeen spoke in an interview Wednesday at the Port Angeles Fire Station. They stressed the importance of the public not letting down its guard on preparedness.
The fear of Y2K wiping out computer systems and data files everywhere was the last event where people locally and around the nation were really prepared, McKeen said.
The February 2001 Nisqually earthquake jolted people into “post-preparation,” but those actions, too, soon wore off, he said.
With the chance of an earthquake affecting the North Olympic Peninsula higher than the possibility of a terrorist attack here, people should have enough food, water and supplies for their family members, pets or coworkers to be self-sufficient for three days.
You should also have a plan for how to respond to a disaster and communicate in the minutes and hours following the event, when 9-1-1 and other telephone lines will be tied up and emergency responders inundated with calls.
“We can’t prevent a disaster from happening, but we can lessen the effects of it,” Ciarlo said.
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The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
