I learned a very important thing at the Magnolia Community Club's Feb. 9 disaster preparedness meeting. Namely, that my own emergency preparedness plan-which I call "Drive to where the help is"-is sadly inadequate if the bridges are all down, a 20-foot tidal wave has washed through Interbay and emergency management agencies are so overwhelmed they can't spare me a Band-Aid.
Indeed, it was a bit of a shock to learn that even the Army Reserves at Fort Lawton won't be offering a helping hand to the community because they'll be too busy calling 911 themselves.
I've been putting off disaster planning for an embarrassingly long time. But after finding out that we're all on our own (as well as having to admit honestly on a form my son recently brought home from school that our family has no disaster plan), I know I've got to get a plan.
But what to do? Load my basement with supplies to last till doomsday, like a paranoid survivalist? Prepare to live for a year in a tent and stockpile meds for the potential cholera outbreak?
Or worse, lay in supplies to homeschool my son for more than two days? It's at this point that I just give up-it's too much to think about.
But now I know my goals can be a little more realistic. First, I have to make sure I'm not one of those ninnies who doesn't even know where the flashlight with the dead batteries is... oh, wait. Well, nevermind that.
Anyway, if I can survive, Rambo-like, for at least a couple of days without the wide-screen and the microwave, and without calling up Fort Lawton and tying up their 911 line, I think I'll do OK.
Here's my nightmare disaster scenario: the Big One hits in the middle of the night on the coldest, wettest day we've had in millennia. My 60-foot beech tree crashes down on the house and traps me in my bedroom (where, though miraculously alive, I am sleeping in my thinnest, oldest jammies-ones I wouldn't want to be caught dead in).
Barely awake, bewildered and blind without my glasses, I unearth my snoring husband from the debris and we crawl out the window and drop 10 feet to the ground. Shivering in the freezing rain and mud, we race barefoot to get our son out of his room.
Now gas lines have ruptured, water lines are spurting and the shut-off is inside the house. Sparks are flying and a fire starts in the home office. We don't dare go back in the house-but that's where the cell phones, car keys, clothes, shoes, fire extinguisher and eyeglasses are.
My husband and I, both lawyers, pick this moment to start bickering over who has our homeowners insurance. It gets paid through the mortgage and we've never made a claim, so we're fuzzy: Is it Allstate, State Farm, Farmers? Who we gonna call?
Soon we find out that all of Magnolia is in a shambles. Houses are collapsed everywhere. There will be no help for at least two or three days. What should we do? How can we help our neighbors?
Come find out on Thursday, March 9, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at the Catharine Blaine School cafeteria, 2550 34th Ave. W.
The Magnolia Community Club invites all neighborhoods to learn how to prepare for a disaster, as well as how to "shelter in place" for a few days. Bring a friend or relative from another part of town.
Learn what emergency supplies to have and where to keep them; find out about water storage, useful tools and survival products; radios that don't need batteries; and (you'll be the envy of all you know) how to make an emergency commode.
Representatives from the Seattle Disaster Awareness & Response Teams (SDART) program will explain how to form neighborhood preparedness groups, and representatives from the Washington State Insurance Council will explain how you can be best prepared to process a claim. Special bonus: door prizes!
You'll feel more confident about your ability to handle a crisis and survive just fine-and have a little left over to help your neighbors.
One thing I know for sure: I'm getting some better jammies pronto. Then I'll find that flashlight.
For more information, visit www.magnoliadisaster.com.
Lindsay Brown is past president of the Magnolia Community Club. "Survivor Magnolia," the second in a series on surviving disaster, will take place March 9, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Catherine Blaine School, 2550 34th Ave. W. Everyone is welcome.[[In-content Ad]]
