Fall 2022

Hillsdale NET Exercise

On Sunday, August 21, 2022, a group of 7 active Hillsdale NET members gathered at Dewitt Park to view our team’s cache and practice setting up the tents that form our staging area. Phyllis,  Liz, John, Nancy, Robin, Jesse, and Pat participated.

 

Team supplies are stored in a shed behind Fire Station #5 next door to the park. Recently our Logistics Committee (Liina, Phyl, John, Pat) reviewed, replenished and organized our medical supplies. Storage boxes are now cataloged and labeled. John built shelving for the shed to better arrange the space. The committee purchased and assembled role based (job description) clipboards with attached boxes that hold the necessary forms and paperwork, all printed on Write-in-the-Rain paper.

 

For part of the exercise, we were joined by PF&R Station #5 Chief Shane, who is very supportive of the work our team is doing, and interested in working with us more in the future.

 

The group spent a couple of hours practicing setting up the 4 tents in our cache: one is for the Incident Command Team, one for the radio team, one will serve as a medical tent, and the last is a sanitation tent with pee and poo buckets. The exercise of setting up the tents was helpful as we were able to identify missing parts. We were also able to label components, making them easier to assemble in an emergency.

All participants felt that this was an extremely valuable exercise that gave us greater confidence to respond in a future disaster. A few pics follow...

 

Immediately on arrival dedicated NETs identified an Incident Lead and began setting up the staging area. 

 

Hillsdale Team Leaders Pat and Jesse discuss "high level strategy and logistics" with Capt. Shane while the team does the real work.

 

Jesse and John assemble a tent likely used for the medical team.

Nancy and Liz set up the radio communications tent.

John takes a well deserved break in the privacy (i.e pee/poo) tent.

If the tent looks a little floppy it is because Portland Parks & Rec doesn't allow any stakes to be driven into the ground. We will likely ask for a special dispensation in the event of an actual disaster.

Capt. Shane, Pat, Liz, Phyl, John, Jesse, Nancy and Robin. Good work team !

 

You're not a NET but want to help out in a disaster ? Do you have family or friends that might want to help ?

Got skills or special resources? Want to help your neighbors in times of disaster or city-wide emergency? Link up with Hillsdale’s Neighborhood Emergency Team!

ATVs (affiliated trained volunteers) are people who volunteer to affiliate with Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NETs) because of special skills or resources they have and want to share in the event of a disaster. While NET members are trained by the City of Portland as citizen emergency responders, ATVs have gained relevant expertise through their life experiences -- professions, hobbies, families, etc. By connecting with you now, in non-emergency times, Hillsdale NET aims to build a more resilient community during times of crisis.

What types of experience are useful? Medical, construction, child care, translation, or radio skills are just some examples. “Special resources” could include a generator, in-home clinic, workshop, ham radio, or more.

If you become an ATV, you will receive an ID card from Portland's Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) after they do a background check. This will allow you to be recognized by NET members in your neighborhood as a skilled volunteer during disaster response. You will receive the same weekly bulletins about training and volunteer opportunities that PBEM sends to its NET volunteers. You will also be contacted by Hillsdale NET for a short orientation and for ongoing opportunities to practice disaster response with the team.

If you’re interested, fill out this ATV interest form or email hillsdaleornet@gmail.com with questions.

Observations About Japanese Post-Tsunami Recovery and Planning

Dr. Liz Safran,  Associate Professor of Geological Science at Lewis and Clark College and Hillsdale NET volunteer presented observations from her recent sabbatical in Japan. All who attended found it very informative. Here is the link to Liz's presentation.

 

Scenario Village

Liina, Liz and Pat participated in a drill on September 10th at Scenario Village, a training facility for Portland Police and others. Scenario Village is a mock up of one city block with residences and businesses inside a giant warehouse. We practiced as a team doing search and rescue with volunteer actors serving as victims or, as we prefer to call them, survivors. We systematically searched each building that was safe for us to enter. The goal is to locate each and every survivor. Triage guidelines identify them as (I) in need of IMMEDIATE, lifesaving care, (D) injured but care can be DELAYED, (M) those with MINOR INJURIES and (X) DEAD.

We reran the drill three times with rotating roles. We made and learned from mistakes or omissions and got to be quite proficient by the third drill. It was a half day well spent. And many thanks to the staff from Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) and the volunteer survivors that made it feel so real to us.

 

Liz, Pat & Liina at Scenario Village 

 

 

 

So what should we expect after a quake in terms of damage and casualties ?

 

 Here are some tables and graphs from the DOGAMI Study from 2013.

Note that the above table presents two scenarios: A Cascadia Subduction Zone 9.0 quake and a Portland Hills Fault 6.8 quake

Note: The above table models the Cascadia Subduction 9.0 quake