PORT TOWNSEND — An earthquake preparedness exercise planned for this spring is being designed to involve a broad group of agencies in determining a response strategy for when — not if — the “big one” occurs.
“There will be a lot of activities,” said Bob Hamlin, the director of the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management.
“There will be many agencies involved, and it will be quite visible to the public.”
Hamlin said the agencies — which could include the U.S. Army and the National Guard — will announce details about the exercise and what activities it will entail in the coming weeks.
Cascadia Rising
The event, which will be known as the Cascadia Rising 2016 Exercise, will take place from June 7-10 and will include coastal communities throughout Washington, Oregon and British Columbia and their emergency responders.
Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Cameron, who heads the county’s emergency management department, said the exercise originates with state government and extends to the local level.
“We want to make it as real as possible,” Cameron said of the four-day event. “We are testing our communications and our response to a catastrophe to improve our reactions.”
Cameron said the exercise will be centered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, where the drill is being organized, with trainers issuing a single simulated incident to which many agencies must react.
The exercise could simulate a tsunami on the northern Pacific Coast, forcing Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor and Kitsap counties to work together.
“We want to learn where our weaknesses and strengths are,” Cameron said.
Designed as a “worst case scenario model,” Cascadia Rising will simulate a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the Oregon coast in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a fault area that runs approximately 600 miles off the coast and includes a 700-mile area from Northern California to Vancouver Island, according to a newsletter on the exercise from Hamlin’s department. The newsletters are to be published monthly through May as the drill nears.
Zone quiet
The Cascadia Subduction Zone is the only significant section of the “Ring of Fire” of connected faults around the Pacific Ocean that has not had significant activity in the past 50 years.
In preparation for the drill, each coastal county is required to submit a reality based scenario to the state’s emergency management office.
These will then be examined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the newsletter states.
The objective is to collaboratively plan, design and conduct a comprehensive exercise that tests local, state, tribal and federal catastrophic emergency plans.
“We will have a lot of partners at different levels that we’ve never had the opportunity to work with,” Hamlin said.
Cameron said he meets or talks with Hamlin every Wednesday about planning for the exercise. The drill has been in the planning stage for the past two years.
Emergency centers
Hamlin said much of the activity will not be visible to the public as it will take place in emergency centers such as the one in Port Hadlock that serves East Jefferson County.
The visible portion will include simulated evacuations, developing neighborhood connections and the classic “duck, cover and hold” drill, Hamlin said.
“Our No. 1 concern here is where food and water will come from after all the bridges and ferries and roads are gone,” Hamlin said.
Interest in a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake was revived nationally by an article in The New Yorker’s July 20, 2015, issue.
The article — which can be read at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-quake — said that when — not if — the “big one” hits the Pacific Northwest, 13,000 people will die, 27,000 will be hurt, 1 million will be displaced and another 2.5 million will be left without adequate food or water after the quake, aftershocks and tsunamis.
At the time of its publication, Lt. Col. Clayton Braun of the Washington National Guard said the article was well written “but was a little alarmist.”
“This will happen, although we don’t know if it will be in our lifetime,” Cameron said of a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake.
“This exercise will help us to improve our response to any catastrophic event.”
For more information on the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management, visit http://www.jeffcoeoc.org. To view documents on disaster preparedness and the Cascadia Rising newsletter, click the “current” link at the bottom of the page.
For Clallam County Emergency Management, visit www.clallam.net/emergencymanagement.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
