EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrects the fully loaded displacement of the USNS Bob Hope.
INDIAN ISLAND — An installation that would be used to bring supplies and humanitarian aid in the advent of a major earthquake was tested this week on a beach opposite Port Townsend.
The interagency Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) exercise at Naval Magazine Indian Island was part of Cascadia Rising, a regional drill to practice systems that would be put into place in the event of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
“Our mission is humanitarian,” said Navy Commander Chad Lorenzana.
“We are going to offload supplies and equipment, along with an inland petroleum distribution system, and bring them to where they are needed.”
The exercise taking place through Friday in coastal communities throughout Washington, Oregon and British Columbia simulates a Cascadia Subduction Zone temblor off the Washington and Oregon coast, where the Juan de Fuca plate collides and wedges under the North American plate.
It would be expected to kill thousands, cut off coastal communities, and collapse phone and internet service.
Geologists believe major earthquakes occur along the Cascadia Subduction Zone about once every 500 years, the last of which happened in January 1700.
Two tours of the Indian Island exercises, conducted by the Army and involving multiple military assets, took place on Wednesday, a morning event for 15 journalists and an afternoon event for government and elected officials.
The exercise improvises a small town including support services such as food, medical, laundry, showers and a barber shop.
Several aspects were scaled down from a real life situation, beginning with about 600 service members of the Navy, Army, Marines and Coast Guard housed in the 850-person capacity encampment.
A galley with 14 cooks serves three hot meals a day and maintains a 24-hour area that is stocked with beverages, fruit, milk and cake.
During the exercise, personnel off-loaded 600 empty 20-foot containers from the ship to the shore. In a real-world situation, the ships would be full of supplies — and considerably heavier.
Also scaled down was the Tactical Petroleum Terminal, which usually stores 378,000 gallons of fuel in 18 flexible plastic bags, each of which holds 200,000 gallons.
For the exercise two 50,000 gallon bags were set on the open shore, for easy transfer to the mainland.
The USNS Bob Hope, a supply ship that is visible this week in the waters between Port Townsend and Indian Island, will use smaller vessels to bring the camp’s infrastructure and supplies to shore.
The 951-foot, 62,069-ton vessel “is crammed so tight that you can’t walk down the aisles,” according to Lt. Andrew Anderson.
Anderson said seven fully loaded vessels are stationed around the world, ready to respond to disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.
For domestic use, the empty rescue vessels are stationed in San Diego, Calif., and are then loaded and sent to the trouble zone.
The camp uses a series of diesel generators to supply its power.
The time between learning of the disaster and building an operational rescue center is three to four weeks, Anderson said.
It would be functional when supplies had run out and could replenish them.
Once the ship is loaded it can travel four to 12 miles daily, Anderson said.
The exercise was held on a beach but the location could change depending on the damage, Anderson said.
As soon as disaster occurred, a preparation team would go to Indian Island to scout and prepare the best location, which would be in place before the cargo ship arrived, Anderson said.
In this case Seabees have been on site since mid-May, attending commemorative services in Port Townsend on Memorial Day.
Supplies are tracked through a system that resembles that for e-commerce sites such as Apple and Amazon, with each item tagged and scanned by a computer that relays the exact location and arrival time for the customer, according to Lt. Brian Dipley.
Base Commander Nick Vande Greind said the 120 Naval personnel stationed on the island are not affected by the exercise, that it was “business as usual.”
The tour included a swing around the Bob Hope in a 40-foot cargo boat, demonstrating its four access points and providing an up-close look a the supply ship.
On Wednesday, in Port Angeles, about a dozen would-be earthquake victims were led on an evacuation drill to higher ground while hazardous materials decontamination drills took place along the waterfront.
Exercises in Clallam County today will include a reverse Community Points of Distribution food bank drive centered on Strait Shots Espresso, 17295 state Highway 112 in Clallam Bay.
On Friday, a mock airlift rescue will include a safety briefing that the public is invited to at 9:30 a.m. at the Clallam County Fire District 3 maintenance yard, 255 Carlborg Road.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
