Post by RickS on Aug 26, 2015 11:00:10 GMT -5
Thought you might find the following article (from California's Office of Emergency Services ACS EMCOMM Bulletin) interesting in regard to CERT members doing 'self activation' during an earthquake emergency. Note that the CERT members used the 800 numbers when local lines were tied up. (A useful tip mentioned in our classes).
(Note, if you try to use the links shown at the bottom of the article to read other bulletins, these are no longer accessible directly, but you CAN get to them if you type the link into the following web site: Internet Wayback Machine This is a VERY USEFUL tip when you encounter web site links that are seemingly gone. Many times they are archived and still accessible through that web site.)
EMC333 Self-activation?? 1/2
To: Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To: Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By: Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
EMC333 Self-activation?? 1/2 Release 3/18/02
The concept of self activation can be a sensitive and misleading
one, yet serve a vital purpose in some situations. Here is an
example where it IS approved by local government.
"When the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually Earth Quake struck western
Washington on February 28, 2001, Whatcom County in northwestern
Washington, felt the earthquake but was spared from significant
damage. Homes, schools, and businesses shook and nerves were
rattled. Telephone Systems soon became overloaded as people tied
up the lines trying to validate what they felt and saw.
As is common in disasters, this presented a communications
challenge for emergency management personnel. Disaster
assessments were delayed as Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
staff tried to reach areas in the community where prefixes were
temporarily unavailable.
Situation Reports were completed with the information received by
members of CERT, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
and emergency response agencies. In Whatcom County, CERT members
are encouraged to check in with the EOC if there is a disaster
and they are no longer needed in their own neighborhoods. They
have self-activated five times since the program started two
years ago.
Those living or working close to the EOC after the earthquake
arrived to offer assistance and were put to work answering phones
and monitoring news reports, along with a variety of other tasks.
Their contribution was valuable and made a difference.
We were lucky to have suffered comparatively minor damage to our
local homes and businesses. The quake provided the opportunity to
test current response systems and show how citizens, trained
through the CERT program, can benefit their community and after
disasters.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members self-activated,
surveying their homes and neighborhoods. Some CERT members used
their phone company's 800 access number when local phone lines
were tied up to call in damage reports for the areas that were
previously unreachable."
From an article in the June 2001 CERT Newsletter of the
Huntington Beach CA CERT Program, by Diane Middleton,
Coordinator, Whatcom County Emergency Management and edited by
Juanita Walker, titled "Communications Systems Fail - Whatcom
County CERT Members Succeed" which was taken from "The Connection
- America's Bridge to Preparedness."
While self-activation makes sense for CERT teams that may not
apply to Emergency Communications units. While it can be argued
that an EMCOMM unit (or, more specifically, some participants
such as a designated officer) should self activate, experience
tells us that there are officials that disagree. As to why and
how to overcome, see the next bulletin.
---------
Bulletins archives: ACS Web page: acs.oes.ca.gov/
ftp.ucsd.edu/emcomm or ftp.oes.ca.gov/ACS/EMCOMM
EOM
(Note, if you try to use the links shown at the bottom of the article to read other bulletins, these are no longer accessible directly, but you CAN get to them if you type the link into the following web site: Internet Wayback Machine This is a VERY USEFUL tip when you encounter web site links that are seemingly gone. Many times they are archived and still accessible through that web site.)
EMC333 Self-activation?? 1/2
To: Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To: Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By: Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
EMC333 Self-activation?? 1/2 Release 3/18/02
The concept of self activation can be a sensitive and misleading
one, yet serve a vital purpose in some situations. Here is an
example where it IS approved by local government.
"When the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually Earth Quake struck western
Washington on February 28, 2001, Whatcom County in northwestern
Washington, felt the earthquake but was spared from significant
damage. Homes, schools, and businesses shook and nerves were
rattled. Telephone Systems soon became overloaded as people tied
up the lines trying to validate what they felt and saw.
As is common in disasters, this presented a communications
challenge for emergency management personnel. Disaster
assessments were delayed as Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
staff tried to reach areas in the community where prefixes were
temporarily unavailable.
Situation Reports were completed with the information received by
members of CERT, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
and emergency response agencies. In Whatcom County, CERT members
are encouraged to check in with the EOC if there is a disaster
and they are no longer needed in their own neighborhoods. They
have self-activated five times since the program started two
years ago.
Those living or working close to the EOC after the earthquake
arrived to offer assistance and were put to work answering phones
and monitoring news reports, along with a variety of other tasks.
Their contribution was valuable and made a difference.
We were lucky to have suffered comparatively minor damage to our
local homes and businesses. The quake provided the opportunity to
test current response systems and show how citizens, trained
through the CERT program, can benefit their community and after
disasters.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members self-activated,
surveying their homes and neighborhoods. Some CERT members used
their phone company's 800 access number when local phone lines
were tied up to call in damage reports for the areas that were
previously unreachable."
From an article in the June 2001 CERT Newsletter of the
Huntington Beach CA CERT Program, by Diane Middleton,
Coordinator, Whatcom County Emergency Management and edited by
Juanita Walker, titled "Communications Systems Fail - Whatcom
County CERT Members Succeed" which was taken from "The Connection
- America's Bridge to Preparedness."
While self-activation makes sense for CERT teams that may not
apply to Emergency Communications units. While it can be argued
that an EMCOMM unit (or, more specifically, some participants
such as a designated officer) should self activate, experience
tells us that there are officials that disagree. As to why and
how to overcome, see the next bulletin.
---------
Bulletins archives: ACS Web page: acs.oes.ca.gov/
ftp.ucsd.edu/emcomm or ftp.oes.ca.gov/ACS/EMCOMM
EOM