Emergency coalition members give tour of local sites vulnerable to quake damage
KING 5 TV reporter Jenna Hanchard, videographer Ryan Coe and Pierce County Department of Emergency Management public information officer Sarah Foster joined Peninsula Emergency Preparedness Coalition chairman Curt Scott and I last week at Lulu’s Home Port restaurant to review plans for a joint tour of the Key and Gig Harbor Peninsulas to assess areas expected to sustain major damage when the “big one” strikes our area.
The KING 5 crew came to the area to shoot a story on how neighborhoods are getting prepared for the great Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.
“These peninsulas are among the first for our survey, which will include most subject areas in Western Washington,” Hanchard said.
The segment will air July 24 on KING 5.
The group of five visited the Home and Herron bridges, which are expected to be demolished in the quake, thus isolating all of southern Key Peninsula to road traffic. The tour included areas of Key Peninsula roadways, which can be expected to be blocked by landslides or vanish due to liquefaction of the earth.
Video shots were taken of the Purdy bridge, which is not expected to survive the impending quake, estimated to register a magnitude 8.5 to 9, and of the Purdy/Wauna causeway, which will likely be washed away.
The Fox Island community, probably the best prepared in our area to survive the quake, takes for granted that the Fox Island bridge will simply crumble, thus isolating the island to all but sea and air supply.
Ray Kittelberger, described by longtime active preparedness member Jim Braden as, “the father of the (Fox Island) Emergency Planning effort,” and Doug Nelson, whose family is among the original settlers of the island, gave the group a tour and explanation of the island’s highly developed state of readiness, complete to three large mobile electrical generators and a communications center heavily reliant on ham radio volunteers among other attributes.
The day ended with a tour in Scott’s airplane over the area to enable the crew to observe and photograph from the air how dependent our communities are on their bridges.
“A good friend asked me one day if I had enough food and water for a real emergency situation,” said PEP-C secretary-designate Byron O’Neal. “I’m not sure what triggered my lightbulb moment, but I wanted to be able to take care of my family. I got invited to a PEP-C meeting and one month later my mindset towards a disaster has transformed from one of being scared to one feeling prepared. I hope to help support PEP-C’s educational and outreach goals in the future in our area.”
KING 5 will likely present its findings at the PEP-C-sponsored Emergency Preparedness Fair Sept. 30 at Gig Harbor High School, where it will join representatives of the Washington Air National Guard, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, Joint Base Lewis McChord, the U.S. Navy, Peninsula Light, the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and a plethora of emergency preparedness experts to assist our communities to prepare to survive the big one.
This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Emergency coalition members give tour of local sites vulnerable to quake damage."