(Image: Seattle Parks Foundation)
A group is coming together to make sure Capitol Hill’s neighborhoods of densely packed apartment dwellers can build resources they need to be resilient during emergencies and natural disasters.
Already having an interest in personal emergency preparedness, Heather Currey attended an emergency hub drill after she learned of the event through Central Seattle Greenways. And while North Capitol Hill has its own emergency hub, Currey felt the need for stronger support in the central part of the neighborhood. Now, Currey is the captain of the Cal Anderson Emergency Hub, which is preparing for its September 7th Urban Survival Skills Fair in the park’s shelterhouse and sunbowl.
“Seattle has a fairly wide hub network, so these are places where under disaster conditions, when we’ve lost electricity and it’s harder for people to communicate with each other, hubs stand up to connect neighbors with neighbors, and neighbors with information,” Currey told CHS.
Currey said these emergency hubs are always needed.
The Cal Anderson Emergency Hub already has over a dozen volunteers who have been meeting for about six months and have worked to obtain grants and jump through bureaucratic hoops with the city, including Parks and Rec and the Department of Neighborhoods.
Those volunteer numbers are only expected to grow, Currey said.
The Urban Survival Skills Fair will take place from 3 to 5 PM Sunday and will be the hub’s second event following a launch party at the end of August where they handed out cookies in the park. This upcoming event will be hands-on and will feature 14 stations on different disaster and survival preparedness:
- Narcan administration
- Communication and tech hacks
- Food safety
- Emergency toilet
- Utilities safety
- Water sterilization
- Active earthquake safety
- Heading home
- Prepared pets and pet first aid
- General first aid
- Amateur radio
- Emergency and camping hacks
- Prepared families and neighbors
- Prepared city
Adding a Narcan-centered station was especially important for the Cal Anderson Emergency Hub, Currey said.
There will also be a representative from the city who will speak on Seattle’s emergency preparedness plan. Upcoming winter plans consist of forming connections with different neighborhood groups that may be able to offer buffering, like if Seattle Central College can provide shelter during an emergency, considering most who live around Cal Anderson Park are renters with limited space.
“We want to help build plans with different neighborhood organizations and businesses so we can all be working together,” Currey said. “I think we have to think a bit differently about people who aren’t going to have 14 days worth of water in their homes if they’re living in a studio apartment…so how do we find alternatives to make sure people have what they need?”
She added that looking at other high-density cities that have experienced significant disasters, like Tokyo, and their emergency preparedness plans can help guide effective plans in Capitol Hill. When a natural disaster strikes the area, human waste management will be complex no matter what, but having a strategy in place will soften the load.
“That’s one of the ones that keeps me up at night,” Currey said.
The Cal Anderson Emergency Hub is in the process of developing a website, which it hopes to launch this winter, but for the time being, more information is available at Seattle Emergency Hubs. People can visit the map feature on its website to view emergency hubs near their homes, schools, recreational areas, and places of employment for additional planning.
Currey encourages community members to become involved, whether it be to learn more about necessary disaster preparedness steps or to educate others through one’s own knowledge and skills.
“It’s always good to have people with robust camping knowledge, but there’s a role for everybody. You need people who are good with people. You need people who are good at tying knots,” Currey said.
At Nomadic Wine Dispensary on Thursday, September 4th from 5-7 p.m., the Capitol Hill Community Council is hosting an emergency preparedness happy hour event, and volunteers from the North Capitol Hill and Cal Anderson hubs will be in attendance.
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