While those are certainly the dates of the Series’ most visible milestones, its impact began in 2010 with the decision to develop a local/state centric exercise in concert with FEMA Region X.
This exercise
series is the dress rehearsal for the real possibility that an earthquake could
strike at any time. The design, preparation, evaluation and development of an
improvement plan following the exercise has fomented intense collaboration
among the key stakeholders who will be in the driver’s seat when the real event
occurs. And we agreed that we would budget as much as possible from our own
ongoing workloads, concentrating the efforts of many of our staff on the task
of building and executing this exercise without the burden of pleasing an
outsider.
Too often, I
have participated in exercises of grand scale that have left me wondering why I
as a local or state emergency manager (I have been both) was even present. Too
often, I have seen critical actions jumped over in the interest of introducing outside
assets and capabilities that, in real time, would not be deployable for as long
as 72 hours after the disaster. And, too often, a test of local and state
readiness has taken a back seat due to a lack of funding or a broader focus
that eclipsed local and even state control. As a result, those first few hours or days
when we are literally going to be left to our own devices seem to have been
afterthoughts, because the exercise development process was not ours to direct.
The Evergreen
Series is unique because the participating cities, counties, states and
province own it outright—no strings attached. The Series actually began in the
first meetings when we thrashed out an agreement that allowed each participant
to select what they would like to test, building on the platform established by
a scenario that featured a series of earthquakes in Central Puget Sound. It is
unique in that we will focus on the second and third day, beginning with
plausible assessments of the conditions we would face at dawn the day after the
quake, and continuing through the next 48 hours as we marshal our assets from
within the state and from nearby British Columbia and even Alaska.
- We will initially call on our Pacific Northwest Emergency Management Arrangement (PNEMA) to acquire assistance. This will come from Alaska and British Columbia. Included in conference call briefings on June 5 and 6 will be information that will allow both B.C. and Alaska to assess the impacts on their respective governments and their citizens.
- We will also be testing our ability to receive and support Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) assistance. EMAC is the state-to-state government assistance compact supported by all 50 states.
- Logistics is a major issue in disaster response and recovery. For this reason we are devoting three full days (June 12, 13 and 14) to examine our capabilities at the federal, state and local level to receive, inventory, and distribute commodities needed to alleviate pain and suffering and assist with the response and, ultimately, the recovery.
- The final and most unique aspect will be the recovery sessions. On August 8, short-term recovery issues will be fleshed out with government professionals and private sector counterparts assessing the most pressing requirements. Because this is a major, near catastrophic scenario, it is anticipated that the August 22 session will involve elected, appointed decision makers and the state’s business and social leadership as well.
The principal
point is that Washington State cannot and should not rely upon outside
assistance as the primary means of revitalizing impacted areas following a
disaster. Help will come, but it must augment a strong, cohesive, collaborative
effort from all quarters of our state.
Finally, a
thorough and challenging after action report and improvement action plan will
be prepared. It is intended to inform the not only the current officials in
state government, but to help orient the transition to a new gubnatorial
administration in 2013.
So, what
actually began in 2010 does not conclude with the last report or the
publication of the improvement action plan—that work will spur deeper and more
extensive exploration of the gaps we identify so that we are as prepared as
possible for a disastrous event that is most assuredly going to occur one day.
Many steps
must be taken for our state to be ready for that ‘one day’, to respond more
quickly to it, to rebuild from it faster. Thanks to this series of exercises, the
critical path toward that day will be more sharply defined, allowing us to proceed—still
step-by-step, but more swiftly and sure—toward forging our own resilience.
We are not
aware of a similar approach to date.
Jim Mullen
Director, Washington State Emergency
ManagementPresident, National Emergency Management Association
