Readiness Review Reminder

By Bob Buddemeier

Autumn is here, and we are almost out of wildfire season.  That means you can take a break from worrying about how Slithers, your pet rat-snake, would adapt to being evacuated to the Plaza.  Does it mean you can take a break from worrying altogether?  No way!  Winter is coming.

Let’s suppose you are an outdoorsy aesthete, waiting eagerly for the first snow to come so you can drive up into the back country to feast your eyes on the winter landscape.  It does, and you do, and the car slides off the road into a narrow ravine with no cell coverage.  “Aha,” you think proudly, “I have my Car-Go-Bag in the trunk.”  So you scramble around, open it up, and pull out — a broad-brimmed hat, some sunscreen, and two extra water bottles.  Uh-oh.

Or maybe you are the homebody type, planning to stay snug and warm inside all winter.  So when the precocious 8-year-old in Fresno who got a laptop for Christmas crashes the entire U.S. power grid, you decide to go to bed to keep warm.  But that little light on the electric blanket control doesn’t go on.  Think!  Did you bring any real blankets, or were those all downsized?  Uh-oh.

Moral:  Eternal vigilance is the price of preparedness, with organization, self-awareness, and other very scarce commodities mixed into the price along with vigilance

But, FEAR NOT! The Residents’ Preparedness Group (RPG), with complicity of the RVM Emergency Preparedness Task Force, has devised a plan for keeping all of us somewhat ready to survive the next earthquake, wildfire, power outage, or other misadventure, foreseeable or unforeseen.

The Plan:  Every 6 months, Fall and Spring, we’ll have a Readiness Review week.  The selected times are (1) the week containing the 3^rd Thursday in October (the Great ShakeOut – more on that below), and (2) the week containing April 15 (Tax day – considered a disaster by many).  RPG and RVM will be reviewing their own programs, but especially reaching out to residents with reminders, information updates, demonstrations, advice and assistance with emergency preparations, and for those interested, classes and exercises.  Your local coordinator (the neighbor in the lime-green safety vest) will be in touch.

Upcoming – the week of the Great Shakeout (shakeout.org/Oregon/) – October 17-23, with the actual Shakeout on 10/21/21, at 10:21 a.m.   We expect everyone to luxuriate in the expanded significance of the whole week, but to focus down on the core event – The Great ShakeOut is an international promotion of earthquake awareness and safety.  Any number can (and do) play.

Here are the rules:  pay attention because we are in the area of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which is thought to be ripe for a Great or Very Great Earthquake just about any old time.  So, we are going to simulate a serious earthquake beginning at 10:21 and lasting for 4 minutes or so (this is not one of your quick-and-dirty California quakes).  You are supposed to take the appropriate action for your location and condition at the time.

First, if you are lucky and attentive, you feel a very noticeable but not devastating shaking.  That is your friend the p-wave arriving to let you know that in not more than a minute, the big bad s-wave will arrive and shake the crap out of everything.

Whatever you feel first, ACT!  Inside, DROP, COVER, AND HOLD.  Anywhere, get away from things likely to fall on you, such as tall furniture, overpasses, power lines, breaking windows, etc.  If you’re not sure of what to do or how to do it – well, that’s why we have these days and weeks.  Find out.

The following linked references are available on both the myRVM Emergency Preparedness page, and on The Complement/Prepare.  Both sites have other information as well.

Recommended Earthquake Safety Actions  What to do when it hits.

Earthquake Preparedness Guide — Disabilities  Not limited to people with disabilities – preparation advice is good for everyone.