Disaster Tip of The Week: Have An Out of State Contact

During a major disaster, it is possible that you may become separated from other family members. Especially if the disaster occurs during a weekday while you're at work and other members of your family are at school, work, or at home.

This leads us to our Disaster Tip of The Week: Have An Out of State Contact

During disasters, traditional methods of communications such as your cell phone, or even your land-line phone may be unusable. However, if you can get to your emergency meeting place, a designated emergency shelter, or other safe gathering point you should be able to get in touch with your emergency contact. Remember other members of your immediate family may not be able to contact you directly.

When you call your Out of State Contact person, tell that person where you are, if you  are staying put, or are still on the move, and where you may be headed if leaving the designated gathering point. Tell the person what happened and when you plan to call again and if possible how they can reach you as well as any other pertinent information that may be necessary.

Each member of your immediate family should have the same person as their point of contact to call in case of an emergency. The person you choose as the point of contact should write down all the information that you give them and let you know if other members of your family have called and where they might be.

Once the emergency contact has been called he/she should also try to monitor to the news as well so they can relay any information if needed.

If you do not have any friends or relatives living out of State, try another county or even the next town if you must. The idea is to have the person as far away as possible so that they would not affected by the disaster taking place in your region.

For instance my the emergency contact for my family is in NY, and I live in CA, I also have a secondary contact in PA if needed.

Free Emergency contact cards you can use for your family are included here in this post (see link below).

For further reading on keeping your family safe using contact information please refer to one of my past posts, ICE...In Case of Emergency, Who Do You Want Contacted?

Emergency Contact Cards

Earthquake Swarm At Yellowstone Comes To An End...For Now.

The Swarm of Earthquakes that started December 26, 2008, beneath Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park has stopped for now. Similar large earthquake swarms have occurred in the past at Yellowstone, without triggering steam explosions or volcanic activity.

A series of more than 900 seismic events was most intense on December 27, 2008. The sequence included sixteen events of magnitude 3 to 3.9 and approximately 70 of magnitude 2 to 3 (as of Sunday afternoon, Jan. 4, 2009). Visitors and National Park Service employees in the Yellowstone Lake area reported feeling the largest of these earthquakes.

Listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Jacob Lowenstern, USGS Scientist-In-Charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, about how scientists monitor volcano and earthquake activity at: http://www.usgs.gov/corecast.

To view up-to-date volcano monitoring information at Yellowstone National Park, visit the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Web site.

Washinton State Hit By Severe Weather 30,000 Evacuated

Washington State, hit by storms that caused massive flooding, mudslides, avalanches and the evacuation of 30,000 people from western Washington.

State officials closed a 20-mile stretch of I-5, other routes such as the state's three major east-west routes across the Cascade mountains due to avalanches.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for about two dozen rivers in western Washington, and Amtrak passenger train service out of Seattle was suspended because of mudslides.

Current information on state highways is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov, with county-by-county closure lists at www.wsdot.wa.gov/news/update.

Here are some Flood Safety Tips

Real Time Information: (was provided by @carolARC)

Seattle Situation Page

Resilient 2 Disaster: Western Washinton

Earthquake May Cause Anderson Dam To Collapse

A new study shows that Anderson Dam could collapse in a major earthquake. It is also the largest dam located Santa Clara County holding 90,000 acre-feet of water when full, which is more than the other nine reservoirs in the county combined.

The new study points to an area of the dam's foundation that contains sand and gravel, which could liquefy in a big quake. Most of the dams foundation was scraped down to bedrock when the dam was built in 1950.

Though the dam which sits on the Calaveras Fault was designed to with stand earthquakes when it was built it was not designed to withstand what is being called the maximum credible earthquake.

According to the study the dam would likely not collapse suddenly or completely but, if completely full, could slump and begin to erode away from the top, giving people a day or so to evacuate, according to Dave Hook, an engineering unit manager for dam safety with the water district.

In the worst case, a complete failure of Anderson Dam could send a wall of water 35 feet high into downtown Morgan Hill within 14 minutes, and eight feet deep into San Jose within three hours, under state emergency scenarios.

More studies are being conducted on the dam since the new findings have been discovered and are being watched carefully by local officials.

FEMA Announces: DHS to Hold Public Meeting on Title IX -- Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program

DHS to Hold Public Meeting Regarding the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 in Washington, D.C. to engage stakeholders in dialogue with DHS leadership and program managers regarding the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program, now called PS-Prep. For more information about the meeting, and to register, go to http://www.fema.gov/privatesectorpreparedness and click on January 13, 2009 Public Meeting.

PS-Prep is mandated by Title IX of the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 to establish a common set of criteria for private sector preparedness, including disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity programs. The goal of this voluntary program is to enhance nationwide resilience in an all hazards environment by improving private sector preparedness.