Post on 07-Jan-2016
description
Slide 1
Jessica Coleman W7EMF Communications Academy 2013
Building an Emergency Communications Hub Network
Whats ahead:
Why do we prepare and what should we be preparing for?How the hubs
fit into emergency response.What the hubs do and dont.How different
Seattle communities started their hub adventures.Questions are
welcome any time!
Why prepare?
For youFor your familyFor your neighborsFor your
neighborhood
What are we preparing for?
Image from A is for Armageddon: A Catalogue of Disasters That May
Culminate in the End of the World by Richard Horne
What are we preparing for?
EARTHQUAKE
TSUNAMI
WILDFIRE
THE NAUGHTY CHILDREN
VOLCANO
Whats a disaster?
Everyday emergency v. large-scale disasterPeople are resourceful
and WILL pull together to survive.This has been seen time and time
again after major disasters.
During a disaster OPTIONS MATTER!
The hub concept
We see people coming together everyday in smaller
communitiesTornado alley, the flood plains, hurricane season in
Texas and Florida, India blackoutsWhat is usual in small
communities is often completely unheard of in large urban
areas
Why dont we make it the norm to build the same kind of community in
urban areas?
How it started in Seattle
A long time ago, in a neighborhood not so very far away
West Seattles recipe for disaster:
Likelihood of a catastrophic event in the region+ Geologic base+ Geographic location between the edge of the Seattle fault and the Duwamish Valley
(shake until thoroughly separated)
= The perfect opportunity to be completely isolated from the
rest of the city!
But what could they do about it?
Meet some neighborsLearn some skillsConnect with local
businessesThe Seattle hubs were born!
Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepareis the City of Seattles
program to assist residents in their efforts to Get Ready, Get
Connected, and Get Strong for any potential emergency.
Learn more:
http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/programs/snap/
The Hub Mission:
Prior to a disaster, the hub's responsibility is to aid the City of
Seattle in encouraging citizens to be individually and collectively
prepared for any disaster.By prior planning, preparation, and
practice, volunteer citizens will have the capability to activate,
as soon as possible after a disaster, a network of pre-located
neighborhood emergency communications hub sites.
During a disaster, the hub sites will:1 - Collect information on
local situations, needs, and resources.2 - Relay information
between hub sites, and to and from the City of Seattle's Emergency
Operations Center (EOC).3 - Assist in allocation of resources
provided by neighborhood residents to needs of neighborhood
residents.
The Hub Mission:
The hub mission is accomplished SOLELY through community
volunteers.
Many hubs have been able to grow because of grants from the
city, but the hubs were not created by the city.The city recognizes
the importance of this level of preparedness and works with the
hubs, but does not control how they look or are run.Hubs are built
by community members and mentored by other hubs.
How do hubs fit into emergency response?
Seattle hubs
What the Seattle hubs do
A hub is
a SAFE community gathering site that activates in the event a major
disaster occurs that makes it impossible to share information in
conventional ways.a place for people to meet and exchange needs,
resources, and information with your neighbors and the city, and
help the community respond quickly and effectively.an organic
grassroots concept that includes all community members regardless
of skill level.
How the hub functions:
Nothing at the designated site until activation.Volunteers bring
supplies and set up shop under an agreement with the site owner.
*** SOLELY RUN THROUGH VOLUNTEER EFFORTS***Gather information and
convey it in an organized way.The focus is community information
sharing, and helping each other help themselves, instead of waiting
for other first responders.
How to plan for disaster
Untrained emergent volunteersToo many resources in the wrong
placesIts a disaster!
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/09/168946170/thanks-but-no-thanks-when-post-disaster-donations-overwhelm
Emergent volunteers
Get the right people to the right placesA key hub focus is training
the reliable hub participants to deal with this pool of workers
which have constantly shown up in other recent disaster
situationsEVERYONE has a resource to offer! How do we tap into
that?Have a base of trained volunteers that can deal with training
more volunteers
Resource allocation
Get the right resources to the right needsNeed/Resource ManagersThe
communication boards are focused on getting needs and resources
connectedA message manager can oversee a good amount of information
so that a maximum amount of needs and resources are
alignedIntegrate low-tech (note cards and push pins) with hi-tech
(Amazon Wish Lists and facebook groups)Information sharing!
Hunters Farm, Wedgewood neighborhood, May 2012
Information sharing
Message boardsLocal announcementstweets and facebook announcements
if services availableRadio voice traffic ham and GMRSRadio digital
traffic fldigi
Hunters Farm, Wedgewood neighborhood, May 2012
Volunteer Park, Capitol Hill neighborhood, October 2011
EOC
Local Hub site
Net Control
Seattle ACS activation, May 2011 drill
Wedgwood, May 2011 drill
What the hubs dont
A hub is NOT
a government agency or sponsored by the city.an emergency shelter
site.a fire/medic station.somewhere to expect to find food or
supplies.based on any Incident Command System (usually).
What does a hub look like?
Different neighborhoods have different ideas and different
needs.The success of the Seattle hub program has been largely due
to the flexibility of the communities, and the assessment of what
their neighborhood wants to do, combined with the support of the
city.A neighborhood can have 1 hub or 10 hubs. And each hub can be
a person on the sidewalk with a laptop and a radio, or a Boy Scout
troop with a bunch of tents.
Wherever people gather to exchange information is a
hub.
West Seattle cont.
11 designated sitesMix of parks, community centers, churches, and
parking lotsBuilt business partnerships by asking for emergency
pledgesDeveloped the current relationship that exists between the
hubs and the Office of Emergency Management
MIQA cont.
8 designated sitesActively involved with the Boy ScoutsExperience
for youth to prepare, organize events, and teach classes while
earning badges
Wallingford/North Central cont.
7 designated sitesStrength in partnership with Sustainable
WallingfordA regular presence at neighborhood meetings and events
like Seattle Tilth, local farmers markets, and visits at the senior
center (not just preparedness!) keep the neighborhood
engaged
Broadview cont.
2 designated sitesOrganized with faith-based groupsActive in
door-to-door recruitment to organize the neighborhood
Northeast cont.
2 established sites with more in progressStrong focus on ICS and
existing organized systemsPartnered with other community
preparedness groupsStrong VIP visibility to promote hub message and
build momentum in neighborhood participation
Capitol Hill cont.
3 designated sitesHubs funded through Seattle Department of
Neighborhoods Small and Simple GrantStrong amateur radio presence
has given the hubs more flexibility and rangeTransitory locals, so
focusing on how to use emergent volunteers
Hubs around the world
Where have hubs activated?
NYC post-SandyOccupy SandyAn established group that is focused on
building community self-relianceUsed non-conventional means to get
resources and needs alignedAmazon Wish Lists and other local
business registriesHeavily supported by social media
Where have hubs activated?
ChristchurchFaith-based groups organized resourcesChurch buildings
were available and became natural gathering placesPeople who werent
able to volunteer with Civil Defense found there own ways to
organize Students who didnt have skills used what they knew to
develop new relationships and skip the bureaucracy
At registration time each morning, volunteers would scan their
student ID or drivers license, rather than signing in with pen and
paper. We dispatched and relocated them via text message through
mobile management software (www.geoop.com) as the operation grew.
The tools in our pockets cell phones,Google maps, Facebook, Twitter
and everything in between were the key to our success.
Where have hubs activated?
Christchurch continuedCommunity partnershipsExisting networksBut
overwhelmingly, new ties were madeMore than ever, current
technology and social media provided the tools to organize and
create new communities
Community Resilience: case studies from the Canterbury earthquakes,
from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency
Management
So what would it look like in your neighborhood?
Who lives in your neighborhood?What groups and organizations are
you involved with and do they have a preparedness plan?Faith
basedInterest basedKids in schoolWhat skills and expertise will you
offer to the groups, and how will you engage them?
How do I start my own hub?
Meet your neighbors and organize!Find a natural gathering place in
your neighborhood.Train, train, train!
Final thoughts
We are in an age of excess informationPeople are more knowledgeable
about events and effects, and can learn skills on their ownMore and
more people are following the DIY philosophyCitys and States
understand that they cant take care of everyone and that communitys
need to be self-reliantThe hub program is just another tool, it
doesnt replace formal training or established
organizations
Additional Information - Websites
Neighborhood hub websites/blogsCapitol Hill Prepares
http://caphillprepares.wordpress.com/Jessica Coleman
jsroder@gmail.comMIQA Community Council -
http://epc-mqadc.com/Broadview Prepares -
http://broadviewprepares.org/CH16EB700 -
http://www.ch16eb700.org/Wedgwood/Maple Leaf -
http://sustainableneseattle.ning.com/group/emergencyprepareWest
Seattle Be Prepared - http://westseattlebeprepared.org
City of Seattle Office of Emergency Managementhttp://www.seattle.gov/emergency/prepare/neighborhood
Sandy recoveryhttp://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/02/1154537/-AMAZING-Occupy-Wall-Street-Leading-Massive-Volunteer-Powered-Recovery-Efforts-in-New-Yorkhttps://lowereastside.recovers.org/
Additional Information - Videos
Hub Training workshop 5 roles presented in a training format, each
class runs from 20 to 30 minutes created by the Wallingford hub
participants, 2012http://vimeo.com/readyseattle
Alexander Beaumont 2012 Red Cross award for his work in the Queen Anne Hubs (3 minutes)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDTzHYHNb5M&feature=youtu.be
Winds of Winter Drill, October 2011 ACS activation at the
Seattle EOC (4
minutes)http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=Z3MVrkjl0FEWest
Seattle Be Prepared - Hubs and social networking, KING5 Feb 27,
2011 (3
minutes)http://www.king5.com/news/quake/Nisqually-QuakeSocial-Networking-117012478.htmlSNAP
and CHiP on Seattle TV City Stream, 2010 (starts at 9:40. 5:30
min)http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3071012
Hello! My name is Jessica Coleman, W7EMF. I am a member of the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service and organize and give preparedness classes for my local group Capitol Hill Prepares. I have been an amateur radio operator for about two years and was drawn to it mostly for the purpose of emergency communication.
Today I am here to share what the City of Seattle has done to
build resiliency and self-reliance at a neighborhood and community
level, and talk about how this same idea has been used in the
aftermath of large scale disasters.
*
Whats ahead?A quick overview of why we prepare and what were
preparing for, which Im guessing all of you already know.Then Ill
talk about how hubs fit into emergency response plans, what the
hubs are designed to do, what they definitely DONT do. Ill give a
little history on how some of Seattles neighborhoods have gotten
organized, and finally talk some about some of the other citys
around the country that are independently giving these same ideas a
try.
I tend to get talking and not stop, so please feel free to
interrupt any time with questions.
*
So first of all - why is everyone here? What made you decide to
pick this class?
Preparedness starts with you!But who else do you care about and Basically we all want to be ready for anything, and we know preparedness starts at home.Who else do you want to keep safe?
Many people entered ham radio for the public service aspects,
and this is a great way to put those skills to use.
*
What are we preparing for?If youre ready for one emergency, you
probably can apply everything you know about how to respond in that
case to any situation. To me this is a fun thing to think about if
X happened, how would my preparedness plan play out?
*
If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you know there are some big
things to prepare for, and that makes it easier to get organized
and get ready.The City of Seattle put together a list - SHIVA
(Seattle Hazard and Vulnerability Analysis) list from the Seattle
Disaster Readiness and Response Plan. Risk scores were assigned
based on the expected potential impacts that each would have on
disrupting services and causing damage and
casualties.EarthquakeSnow and ice
stormWindstormTerrorismTransportation incidentPower
outageFireInfrastructure failureFloodingDisease outbreakWater
shortageExcessive heat eventCivil disorderLandslideTsunami and
seicheActive shooterHazMat incidentVolcano
*
To really understand how the hub concept came about, we have to
think about what a disaster is.
A disaster can be personal, like a house fire, or citywide, like a major snow storm that might shut down a city (like Seattle) for weeks. Or it can be a regional event like we saw with the eruption of Mt. St. Helens or floods and hurricanes that occur regularly in other parts of the country and world.
No matter what the disaster is, people tend to pull together to
get through. But if you have some kind of plan to deal with it, you
will be able to get through it easier.
*
So being ready for a disaster and realistic about the response we
will receive from government agencies, is why the hub concept was
developed here in the first place.
Is there anyone who HASNT seen the preparedness pyramid before?
The biggest thing to remember is that if you cant take care of yourself, you cant take care of others, so that should always be the priority.
You all probably have that taken care of, so what next? Your
community and organized community response, because after a
disaster, every option matters.
*
What is usual in one place is completely unheard of in urban
areasWhat do we hear about and why?Tornado alley, hurricanes,
Texas, flood plains
Psychological strength
India blackouts most people didnt notice
Sandy hubs Occupy SandyIndividual human resiliency
Why shouldnt this be the norm everywhere?
*
In Seattle, the original hub concept started right here in West
Seattle.
*
Ill talk more about different neighborhood stories later, but
basically it started with some friends about 6 years ago who
realized if a large earthquake hit the Pacific NW, West Seattle
would be completely isolated. The viaduct will probably collapse,
and West Seattle could become an island.
*
*
Is everyone familiar with the SNAP program?The citys program to
help people prepare personally and get their neighbors organized
and prepared.Classes and training events offered throughout the
year. (See the website for more details)The hubs grew out of the
SNAP program.
Consider hubs as the next step above personal and family
preparedness.
*
Established safe space for the community to share
information.Communicating with your own community cultural and
languageCommunity Centers, Resource Sharing Centers, Churches
*
The hub missionVolunteers, like you and I, are doing this. This
is not sponsored by the city, although they do support the
effort.And have a grant program through the Dept. of Neighborhoods
that many groups have been funded through.
*
Its going to get bad and its going to get real.So how does a hub
fit into emergency response?The hubs fit into the preparedness
pyramid like this.
*
*
What you all wanted to know!What is a hub?The basic hub concept is
this(from slide)
Why is this important? Outside aid will not realistically be provided for 7-10 days. They have limited resources and will be overwhelmed.The first priority of first responders like SPD and SFD is the windshield survey.
As a community we need to be able to help ourselves. The hubs
help take information and organize it. Connect local needs to local
resources (example). They can also be a link from the city to the
neighborhoods, and from the neighborhood to the city.
*
Typically nothing is at the hub site until activation.VOLUNTEERS
bring supplies and set up shop under agreements and MOAs with the
site owner. For example, many hubs here have signed MOAs with the
Parks Department to operate, and in some cases, store equipment on
Parks property. They are aware of what we do and support the
mission.What a hub really does. SHARES information! Connecting
needs with resources, while not maintaining those resources on site
necessarily.It does this by making sure all members of the
community are represented and get the RIGHT information. This could
be through multi-lingual handouts, or organizing hubs at
under-represented population centers.Helps the community help
themselves to organize and share resources.
*
A diagram of our envisioned flow at the hub.
Citizens come to the hub where they will meet a greeter. The
greeter will get information from them and decide where they need
to be routed. Do they have a need? A resource? A skill? Are they an
emergent volunteer that needs to be put to work? Are they reporting
information that needs to be relayed to the city?
*
When enough volunteers arrive to staff the hub, then they can start
gathering and processing information in an organized way.From past
disasters, the biggest thing we need to manage is emergent
volunteers. A key part of the hub concept is planning ahead on how
to utilize these emergent volunteers.
*
*
A consistent theme in disaster relief is overwhelming
donations.Although we dont expect to see this kind of response at a
local level, it is still something we want to prepare for.
Identifying ahead of time how to manage too many/not enough
resources in the right place/wrong time is a major contingency to
consider.
*
AS seen in the hub flow, there are a lot of options for information
sharing and we havent even begun to explore all the
possibilities.
*
Most information will be addressed within the hub and the
neighborhood, but situational reports and large scale emergencies
will be filtered up to the city (top of the pyramid) by members of
the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS). ***This radio
portion is a minor role compared to the higher level mission of the
hubs to collect and share information and resources.
*
Youve seen what a hub can do, but there are key points to remember
about what a hub is NOT.This is almost more important than what a
hub is set up to do.We cannot emphasize enough that a hub site is
for information sharing and communication.Hopefully we will be able
to point people to things like first aid and water and shelter, but
they should not expect to find it at the hub site.
*
West Seattle
Strengths - Relentless! Recognize diversity in their community got translations of all their preparedness training material done in 13(?) languages!Flexible!Educated about the major potential problems that they will face if we have a big earthquake isolation
*
West Seattle
Strengths - Relentless! Recognize diversity in their community got translations of all their preparedness training material done in 13(?) languages!Flexible!Educated about the major potential problems that they will face if we have a big earthquake isolation
*
Magnolia, Queen Anne, Interbay
Knowing your community and how to talk to them and engage
them.Give the people something that is mutually beneficial.
*
Magnolia, Queen Anne, InterbayHistory:
Strengths Leveraging community skillsPassionate leaders with different ideasOngoing engagement and training
Knowing your community and how to talk to them and engage
them
*
WallingfordHistory:
Strengths Leveraging community skills and organizationsPassionate leaders with different ideasOngoing engagement and training
Knowing your community and how to talk to them and engage
them
*
WallingfordHistory:
Strengths Leveraging community skillsPassionate leaders with different ideasOngoing engagement and training
Knowing your community and how to talk to them and engage
them
*
NortheastHistory:
Organized and ICS trainedFocus on Community Council and
utilizing existing community networksAdvertising and PR
*
NortheastHistory:
Organized and ICS trainedFocus on Community Council and
utilizing existing community networksAdvertising and PR
*
Cap HillHistory:
Strengths FlexibilityRecognizing demographicsPlanning for
emergent volunteersCreating training materials and general
outreach
*
Cap HillHistory:
Strengths FlexibilityRecognizing demographicsPlanning for
emergent volunteersCreating training materials and general
outreach
*
Occupy Sandy is my favorite example:*Occupy is already an
established group that focuses on community and self-reliance*They
have to be prepared and they have to help each other, this is a
natural partnership and have given great ideas to emergency
preparedness groups in general*Amazon gift registries*Door to door
meeting with local businesses and promoting local businesses in
their request for aid
*
Christchurch
*
*
*
Small steps, easy steps. Take one action this week. Meet your
neighbors. Share your preparedness passion with them. What are your
community groups? How are they prepared? What are your interests
and how can you incorporate them into your preparedness plan and
how will you help them prepare?
*
Final thoughts
We are increasingly bombarded with too much information. We need as many tools as possible to manage that information. As people become more informed, they realize they dont have the skills they need and they research it. The instant expert is a problem and a great resource.
The hubs are not meant to replace any established organization, they are meant to supplement and help utilize the people and skills that normally would get overlooked by professionals who are trying to manage other things.
When you need a hammer and all you have is a screwdriver, the
job isnt going to get done effectively. The hub is a tool to add to
all the other tools to make the community self-reliant.
*
*
Additional resources are abundant on the web.These are a few good
places to get started.
*
Additional resources are abundant on the web.These are a few good
places to get started.
*