This is the really hard part: getting people to do what they know they ought to.
Prepare for the worst earthquake you can imagine.
Lt. John Quinlan of the county Office of Emergency Services paints a horrific picture: “If we get the Big One, think 25 Ground Zeros in the Bay Area. All transportation stopped; all power off; you can’t turn on the water or flush the toilet; you have casualties and you have death; people are crushed.
“Bridges are down; overpasses are down. The life you know is on hold.
“You need a plan,” Lt. Quinlan urges. “How are you going to reunite your family? Have an out-of-state phone number. Where are you going to live?
“Have redundant communications. Have an old-style, plug-in-the-wall telephone. It can work when the electricity is off. You need a little radio.
“You need an emergency kit in three places — four if you’re a student — in your car, in your house, and at work.
“Employees had better realize, if they’re hit at work, they may not get home. Employers must think about employees — they may have to take care of them.”
Deputy Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District adds: “Everybody needs to take responsibility for themselves. Your plan is only as good as the last time you exercised your plan.”
Neighborhoods prepare
Chief Mike Fuge of the Woodside Fire Protection District echoes the common message: “Be able to take care of yourselves and your neighbors.”The Woodside fire district is a county leader in training neighborhoods in emergency response. Through its CERPP program, 25 neighborhoods are organized to help each other. Each neighborhood has a trained leader, and equipment, including radios.
“We have a perpetual training program that will never end,” says Gaylynne Mann, who runs the CERPP program out of the Woodside Road station.
CERPP offers training in first aid, CPR, basic aid training for children, baby-sitter training, and light search and rescue.
“We conduct two field exercises a year with the towns, and sometimes the county,” Ms. Mann says.
Of the 16,000 residents of the Woodside fire district, about 20 percent participate in CERPP, Ms. Mann says. “It builds a sense of community — a sense that people are there for each other,”
The fire district has also stocked seven large containers — eight by 8 by 40 feet — and placed them throughout the district, Chief Fuge says. These contain water, blankets, cots, pillows, diapers, tools, as well as supplies for animals, such as halters, leashes and cages.
Each of the district’s three firehouses also stocks supplies for families.
The district and CERPP are recruiting health care professionals to form a Medical Reserve Corps that will include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, psychiatrists and dentists. “It’s all timing. We can set up a field hospital,” says Chief Fuge.
“If their home is damaged, they can bring their families here,” he says. “There’s food and water and everything they need.”
The district has also conducted a wildfire drill in conjunction with the schools. It evacuated kids from Ormondale School in Portola Valley to Woodside High School until parents could pick them up.
“It’s a passion for us,” says Chief Fuge. “We are training citizens to act independently if we have a big event.”
Other fire agencies in the county are sponsoring neighborhood emergency preparedness teams, including the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and several in rural areas on Skyline and beyond.
Still, no one is ever completely ready. Woodside Mayor Deborah Gordon reflects, “Compared to many other places in the nation, we’re way ahead — which really frightens me.”
