Cities Move Toward More Emergency Preparedness

By Katherine Hafner

Sherie Dodsworth first felt the need for more community preparedness when her 101-year-old neighbor's daughter called Dodsworth expressing concern that her elderly mother didn't pick up the phone.

“(My neighbor’s) daughter would call and say, ‘Sherie, can you go check if she’s okay,’” Dodsworth said. “That kind of raised a concern about what would happen … in an emergency.”

Dodsworth is the volunteer program leader of Los Altos PREPARE, an organization that launched early 2013 to help build community connections and preparedness in the case of an emergency.

The notion of heightened emergency preparedness has recently touched down in local communities such as Los Altos Hills, Cupertino and Palo Alto, with city and private efforts.

Dodsworth said PREPARE was founded partly because the city of Los Altos does not currently offer many resources for people to engage in community preparedness.

Los Altos used to have a CERT, or Community Emergency Response Team, certification program, but the program did not continue after the position in charge of the training was frozen under the budget more than six years ago, said Los Altos Police Chief Tuck Younis.

However, the city does offer PEP – Personal Emergency Preparedness – training, which is a good way for people to prepare themselves, Younis said.

“We know that for the first 48 to 72 hours (in an emergency), city services may be limited,” he said. “The PEP class is perfect for that … it gives people the knowledge for what they need in an emergency.”

But Dodsworth said she thinks there needs to be other resources for people to engage with the idea of preparedness after they learn about it from the city.

The goal of PREPARE is to have people form networks of helping each other, stay in tune with the community and learn about ways to become prepared for emergencies, so that in the event of an emergency like an earthquake, community bonds are already formed.

Dodsworth added that the main emergency PREPARE anticipates is an earthquake, which she thinks would prove the most devastating to the community.

The trend toward emergency preparedness also has Los Altos Hills seeing an increased number of citizens who want to get involved.

There has been a steady increase in citizens becoming CERT certified in the past couple of years, said Los Altos Hills Mayor Gary Waldeck.

A little more than 200 people are currently certified in the town, Waldeck said. These are people who not only learn how to prepare themselves, but how to help others in an emergency, he added.

Waldeck said the CERT classes began in about 2006, but the numbers of people attending to get certified has risen dramatically, in even the past year. The town also offers PEP and CPR classes.

Los Altos Hills residents also increasingly use online sites such as “Next Door” to help keep track of events in their community and connect with neighbors, which the town has been pushing for, Waldeck said.

As various emergency preparedness efforts gain traction, it is increasingly up to citizens themselves to learn more about getting prepared in their community.

And reminders like the 3.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday may prove a motivating factor.

You can register on the Los Altos Recreation website for Los Altos PEP training classes. Upcoming training dates are on July 27 and Aug. 3.

You can find out more about Los Altos PREPARE here, and about Los Altos Hills CERT training here.