 |
|
|
|
|
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Janet Dow inspects a neighborhood emergency first-aid kit.
Be Prepared
Earthquake kits that'll make any Boy Scout proud
By Pam Marino
When the Loma Prieta earthquake let loose 10 years ago, it shook more than just homes, it shook the very foundation of the belief that the Big One will happen here "someday."
With scientists assuring us that we still had the Big One to come, earthquake preparedness became very popular after Loma Prieta--for a time. Then a collective amnesia set in, and many people fell into the "someday" way of thinking once again.
Every April, the anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the state tries to shake Californians out of their complacency with Earthquake Preparedness Month. When the special programs and news stories go away, however, it's out of sight, out of mind.
It's a frustrating pattern for people like Lynn Brown, who heads up Sunnyvale's Emergency Preparedness Unit at the Department of Public Safety.
His job is to help residents and city employees get ready for the inevitable 8.0 earthquake, with good reason: Sunnyvale sits almost in the center between the Hayward Fault, 10 miles to the east, and the San Andreas, 7 miles to the west. Even closer than San Andreas is a system of faults in the foothills of Cupertino.
Brown--who said he sometimes feels like "Mr. Gloom and Doom"--also reminds residents about other potential disasters, like fires and floods.
The redeeming part of his job, he said, is helping residents get ready come what may. For instance, the city instituted a program called SNAP, Sunnyvale Neighborhoods Actively Prepare.
However, after a few years only a handful of neighborhoods are participating. A few thousand households are on the SNAP mailing list.
So Brown and other emergency preparedness officials are hoping to capitalize on Y2K--not to scare people, but to suggest that getting ready for any emergency is not such a bad idea.
"Our focus for Y2K is preparedness, not panic," Brown said. "We say this is a good time to be prepared anyway."
A meeting on May 20 at 7 p.m. at the Public Safety Department, 700 All America Way, will give the public more information on the topic.
Emergency Planning: The City of Sunnyvale offers a checklist of actions residents should take to prepare for emergencies.
Brown is at the ready to help even more residents organize, so that neighbors can rely on each other in an emergency. He and his staff conduct dozens of presentations each year, and pass out thousands of the city's free, detailed Emergency Preparedness Workbook.
All it takes, Brown and other officials said, is a few neighbors to start talking. Sunnyvale officials are willing to meet with neighborhoods to help get started on a SNAP group, which is usually led by a SNAP captain, or co-captains. Six committees take care of each area: Safety and Security, Search and Rescue, Sheltering and Special Needs, Communications, Damage Assessment and First Aid. The city will train members of each of the committees. It also provides CPR training at a reduced cost for all SNAP participants.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
A well-stocked earthquake kit includes three days worth of food and water, an updated first-aid kit and a variety of essentials: money, clothing, flashlights, blankets, toilet paper and cooking supplies.
In the neighborhoods that have gotten prepared, Brown said, residents have taken donations or done fundraising to purchase supplies. One neighborhood, Exmoor and Nuthatch ways, even purchased a generator last fall. Co-captain Barb Patton said she and her neighbors created a cookbook to raise part of the money, and then "passed the hat" to cover the rest, more than $500. The generator will be used to bring power to a home that is the neighborhood's designated first-aid station in an emergency. Past fund raising efforts have included a garage sale to purchase first-aid supplies. They also raised funds to purchase walkie talkies.
Patton, who has been involved in SNAP since 1990, said she helped start her neighborhood group partly because of the frightening experience of Loma Prieta in 1989, and partly to get to know her neighbors better.
"What I have liked about it more than anything is the sense of community it has created," she said.
The volunteers at SARES, Sunnyvale Amateur Radio Emergency Service, regularly practice their skills to be ready to relay information to the Public Safety Department in case of a city-wide disaster. Sunnyvale also has Project Ark, which puts "arks," or large storage bins, at a dozen schools around the city. Each ark has 300 cots, 600 blankets and 500 gallons of water. A total of 3,600 people would be helped at each site.
With approximately 130,000 Sunnyvale residents, however, it makes more sense for individuals and neighborhoods to be ready, preparedness officials said.
"If you've done something to prepare, you're much better off," Brown said.
Patton agreed. "It's a very easy thing to do."
To receive a free Emergency Preparedness Workbook, or to find out more about SNAP, call the Emergency Preparedness Unit at (408) 730-7190. The city also has information at its website, www.ci.sunnyvale.ca.us.
|
|
|
|
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
