Emergency Mangement

First let me try to express how I feel certain terms should be used. I will define an incident as a time when a response by government is required to save lives or protect property or the environment. There are three levels of incident: an emergency such as when the police respond to a traffic accident or the firemen to a house fire or the medics/emergency medical technicians (EMT) to a heart attack; a disaster when the local first responders (police, firemen, EMTs, Public Works) are overwhelmed by the magnitude (e. g. a 7.0 earthquake or a hurricane); and a catastrophe when an entire region is overwhelmed (e. g. Hurricane Katrina or an 8.5 earthquake.) Of course, these terms also are dependent on who is affected. If my house burns down, it might be an emergency for the city but is at least a disaster for me (and maybe a catastrophe.)

Normally, for an emergency, if the first responders need help they call on their neighbors (e. g. Normandy Park Police would call on their buddies in the Des Moines Police or the sheriff''s office in Burien or SeaTac.) Our firemen in the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department would call on South King Fire in Des Moines, SeaTac Fire Department, or the North Highline Fire District. All of those entities have "Mutual Aid" agreements which say not only would they respond to help us, but we will respond to help them, as for example, we send Rocky, our tracking bloodhound (and his partner, Officer Morella) to help them if they need to track someone.

If the problem becomes larger than what first responders can handle, a disaster is proclaimed and we would ask the county (and state) for help. If the problem is larger than the state can handle, the Governor can also proclaim a disaster and request help from FEMA and the federal government. The President, in turn can declare a disaster and offer assistance. Note that the ultimate responsibility for the safety of our residents resides in the local officials (City Manager, Mayor, City Council.) The County Executive, county Office of Emergency Management, Governor, state Emergency Management Division, FEMA, National Guard, etc. do not come to help us unless we ask (and ask in the proper way and on the correct forms.) That was a major problem during Katrina. One rarely hears about the problems in Mississippi where the hurricane actually came ashore and completely devastated the coastal area, because the Governor of Mississippi actually used the correct procedures to request help from the federal government. He also told them what he needed so the feds could send the needed help to the correct places at the right time. On the other hand, the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana somehow thought that going on TV and saying "we need help" would get a government bureaucracy to provide exactly what they needed, when and where they needed it. Going on TV and looking pathetic may be good public relations but filling out the proper forms and sending them to the right officials is what gets help for residents of a devastated area.

(Note: Notice that I stated above that the local official (more about that later), the Governor (and the County Executive) each proclaimed an emergency or disaster while the President declared one. That is my understanding of the correct terminology. Only the President "declares" a disaster; lower levels of government "proclaim." I am sure that there is a reason why that is so but I don't know it. It is just another of life's little mysteries.)

In a catastrophe, the whole country and maybe even the world comes to help but it will take time. While we can fervently hope that we never experience a catastrophe on the order of Katrina here, Emergency Managers must plan what they would do when (not if) a disaster occurs and how to help people in a catastrophe. The first thing that each and every person in Normandy Park must realize is that each of our first responders has family and those are the first people he or she is coing to think of in a disaster (or catastrophe.) In fact, this is as it should be. What kind of a person would a police officer or fireman be if he (or she) didn't think of his/her spouse, children, and parents first. This has two implications: first, they may not be able to get to help you as quickly in a disaster as they would normally so you need to be able to take care of yourself and your family; and second, the city needs to have a plan to ensure the well being of their families so they can get back to their jobs without worrying about their families.

You may have heard of the Three Days/Three Ways program, which basically would show you how to help you to take care of yourself (with food, water, medications, etc. for the first three days after a disaster.) Unfortunately, as we saw during Katrina, three days is insufficient in a catastrophe or even in a major disaster. The City of Normandy Park is asking that you consider how you might take care of yourself for up to ten days before you could expect help in terms of getting to an open grocery store or gas station, etc. (Remember during the Hanakkah Eve windstorm in 2006 when not only were homes without power but also the grocery stores and gas stations could not provide service because they also did not have power. That was a relatively minor disaster but was still very disruptive to all of our lives.) If a major disaster interrupted our infrastructure, we might need to have potable (drinking) water trucked or barged in from outside the area. Our grocery stores have about a day's worth of food readily available to them. They depend on resupply from outside the area. (The recent snowstorms that closed the passes and floods that closed I-5 caused a fear that we could have run out of food here in the Puget Sound region.) Again that was a small disaster (to most of us if not to those affected) but the lessons are that a larger incident could have serious consequences if you are unprepared. Please make sure you have an emergency supply of everything you need to last for a minimum of ten days.

After you take care of yourself and your family, consider checking on your neighbors (as you would like them to check on you.) The City has a program called Map Your Neighborhood which is sort of a Block Watch for disasters. (Block Watch or Neighborhood Watch as it is also called, if you don't know, is a program to get to know your neighbors and call the police to check if you see something strange going on at your neighbor's house while they do the same for you.) If you are interested in either of these programs (in Normandy Park,) call Officer Dave Bond during normal business hours at 206-248-7600. Outside of Normandy Park, call your local Police Department.)

Now, finally, I am going to get on my soapbox for the reason that I started this particular posting in the first place. In a time of disaster, a local official must start the ball rolling to get outside help. The mechanism to start that (under state law,) is the Proclamation of Emergency. Besides being an official call for help, it authorizes certain actions by the city government. It authorizes the government to suspend normal bid procedures that would be required to purchase supplies and services for the response to the disaster.

State law says that the Chief Executive Officer of the city (or his designee) is the one authorized to proclaim an emergency. The City of Normandy Park runs under the "council/manager" form of local government (i. e. the City Council is a legislative branch and hires a City Manager to actually run the executive portion of the city (as opposed to a strong mayor form, in which the Mayor is elected directly and is the chief executive with a city administrator to help.) Mayor McEvoy was elected from among the seven city council members by the council to serve as or but his duties are limited to running city council meetings and being the ceremonial head of the city. (I was elected as Mayor Pro Tem to perform his duties if he is unavailable. Sometimes we do allow him to go on vacation.)

State law does permit one exception to the concept that the City Manager is the Chief Executive and that occurs during a disaster. The Mayor may be tasked with proclaiming the disaster, if the council so chooses (and enacts an ordinance to that effect.) I would like to see the council do precisely that primarily for two reasons. First, as I learned in junior high social studies, we Americans like to have a separation of powers. Since it is the City Manager who would acquire the power to operate without the bid laws, etc., I would like to see someone else authorize him that authority rather than having him both authorize and exercise that power. (I must state that this is a philosphical reason because I have no doubts that our current city manager would not abuse this authority; perhaps a subsequent one could.) My second reason is that if the City Manager were not available (we also allow him to go on vacation, although infrequently), the next people whom he has designated to act in his stead, do not live in (or even particularly near) the city and thus might be difficult to reach in a major disaster when transportation and communications are disrupted. The Mayor (and his successors) all live in the city (by law) and are, therefore, much more accessible.

Several of the counter arguments that I have heard are that it might be possible that a future mayor might have some conflict with the City Manager (who would be advising the Mayor that a Proclamation of Emergency is needed) and that conflict might delay (or even prevent) a necessary proclamation. Another argument is that, since the City Manager's advice to the Mayor is highly desirable before a Proclamation is signed, two people are necessary to agree when time is of the essence. Also, if the disaster occurs during working hours (think Nisqually Quake,) the City Manager is likely right at hand in City Hall, while a Mayor might be at work outside the city.