"My goal is to make Seattle the most prepared city in America . There's still more to do, but in the last three years we've significantly increased our ability to deal with natural or man-made disasters. We've strengthened infrastructure like bridges and fire stations; helped businesses and residents to retrofit; participated in national emergency exercises and made sure our plans include citizens who are vulnerable." - Mayor Greg Nickels

While disasters such as earthquakes, floods, or terrorist attacks, can’t always be prevented, we can be prepared.

The City’s emergency preparedness efforts have two essential goals: protect lives and restore essential services. Our planning emphasizes individual and community preparedness, and ensures that Seattle and its regional, state and federal emergency partners can work together.

The Nisqually earthquake, which happened on Feb. 28, 2001 , did significant damage to many buildings in Seattle . Still, we were fortunate to escape truly catastrophic damage.

Since then, the City has increased its emergency preparedness efforts. Listed below are some of the things the City has done to prepare for the next emergency; for a more in-depth description, you can download the 5-page fact sheet.

There’s also a lot you can do to prepare your family and protect your property. To learn more about what you can do to be ready, visit Seattle Emergency Management online at: http://www.seattle.gov/emergency_mgt/.

Fact Sheet: Read the 5-page fact sheet about what the City of Seattle is doing to prepare for disasters.

Tips: Read a list of tips that will help you prepare for an emergency.

These are the things you do before an emergency happens, like replacing an unstable fireplace or retrofitting buildings. For example:

• SPU and the Fire Department are installing high-volume connections at some reservoir sites and water storage tanks, so firefighters can still fight fires, even if parts of the water system are broken.
• More than 20 pedestrian and auto bridges have been seismically retrofitted.
• The City is helping people retrofit their homes by offering a quicker building permit process, professional training for builders and contractors, and self-help workshops for homeowners who want to do the work themselves.

These are the things you do to get ready for an actual emergency, like preparing an emergency kit or practicing fire drills with your family. The City also prepares supplies and does emergency drills. For example:

• Seattle participated in several tabletop training exercises in 2004, testing the City’s response to various scenarios, including regional power and water outages in the middle of winter, an explosive device outside Safeco Field, and a cruise ship attack.
• We’ve expanded SDART, the City of Seattle ’s neighborhood preparedness program. Teams help people prepare to be self-sufficient for three days after a serious disaster, when 911 emergency responders may not be available.
• In May 2003, More than 1,200 police, fire, and other city employees participated TOPOFF2, a weeklong exercise to test local, regional, state and federal responses to terrorism.

This is how you respond to the emergency. For example, if you’re at home during an earthquake, you respond by getting away from windows and under a strong piece of furniture. The City also has plans for how to respond. For example:

• The Emergency Operations Center will be activated.
• Human Services case managers will contact their vulnerable clients after an emergency to find out if they are safe and if they need anything.
• Fire engines and trucks from each fire station will go out on “damage-assessment” routes, where they will look for dangerous situations and buildings, and look for trapped victims, fires, major damage to utilities, building damage and bridge conditions.

These are the things you do after the emergency to get back to normal. You might need to sweep up broken glass or fix cracks in the walls. The City will also be cleaning up and getting roads fixed so people can go back to work safely. It’s hard to know what work will be required until after an emergency, but regardless, organizations like the Business Emergency Network will help businesses- and their employees- get back to work.

OTHER RESOURCES

http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/issues/homelandsecurity.htm 

Retrofitting: Protecting Homes From Earthquakes

Business Emergency Network

Seattle Disaster Readiness and Response Plan

Seattle All-Hazards Mitigation Plan