Is Los Altos prepared for the next earthquake? Police cite significant improvements since 9/11

By Tim Seyfert and Bruce Barton, Town Crier Staff Writers

When asked recently how ready for a major disaster the city was two years ago, Los Altos Police Sgt. Dennis Loucks responded by holding up his hand in the shape of a zero and shaking his head in disapproval.

According to Loucks, emergency preparedness in Los Altos was “virtually nonexistent.” Local interest was considerably low; the city’s Emergency Preparedness Committee was scrambling for members; and the initial Community Emergency Response Training program (CERT) was little more than a noble idea.

Then came the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Like the rest of the country, the community was given a grim wake-up call to the realization that no place was immune from the possibility of a large-scale disaster.

Since then, Los Altos officials, particularly the city’s police department, have pushed emergency preparedness to the forefront.

“Suddenly, there was an overwhelming demand for programs dealing with emergency preparation,” said Los Altos Police Officer John Korges. “People realized that there was potential for catastrophic events (in this community) and there was a need to take action.”

Last year Police Chief Don Johnson launched a campaign to assess and improve the city’s emergency preparedness.

This included sending Korges and Loucks to the Emergency Management Institute in Maryland to become certified instructors for the revived CERT program, which kicked off in 2002. That effort seemed to pay off when more than 20 volunteers completed the course’s first session last September.

Last week, around the same number attended the program’s latest session at Hillview Community Center, where Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents began training in emergency response techniques.

In the course, CERT members are schooled in basic first aid, damage assessment, fire suppression, search and rescue, psychological response and neighborhood organization.

Korges said the main goal of the CERT program is to give people the basic skills needed to offer immediate assistance to others in the community.

“We’re not training people to replace emergency professionals,” Korges said. “This course is about teaching people to keep themselves, their families and their neighbors safe.”

The $90 fee includes the 18-hour program and a complete pack of emergency equipment, including a helmet, gloves, caution tape and surgical mask.

Similar programs are already in place in nearby cities, such as Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and Mountain View. There is an after-school course available to students at Los Altos High School.

A key motivation behind CERT, according to Korges, is that although local governments prepare for daily emergencies, a large-scale disaster might overwhelm the community, causing delays in response time from emergency professionals. That’s when certified CERT members come into play.

“There are so many ways a regular resident could help,” Korges said. “A roll of tape could do more good than a bubble suit by telling people not to go near a disaster site.”

Though it may have been terrorism that drew attention to disaster preparedness, it’s large-scale fires and earthquakes that have local police and fire departments most concerned, Korges said.

“This area is prone to seismic disaster,” he said. “It’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when,’ a major earthquake happens. We want to make sure that residents know what to do.”

Korges cited the devastating 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake as a recent example of a catastrophe taking the community by surprise.

“The San Andreas Fault is pretty much in our back yards,” Korges said. “Residents need to have the knowledge to respond when something like that happens again, especially since it could happen at any time.”

Loucks said approximately 40 residents have taken the course thus far. He added “it wouldn’t be a bad idea” for all city personnel to take the CERT class as well.

Los Altos also benefits from its longstanding Emergency Preparedness Committee. Members hand out information at local festivals on what to do when the next big one hits. Loucks said the committee provides guidance and policy on emergency preparedness procedures.

In addition, approximately 60 active radio operators are on standby to report damage and spread vital information in the event phone lines break down. Thanks to the efforts of Ernie Ieufer and Gerry Sikora, Los Altos has a new transmitter at its corporation yard on Fremont Avenue so that residents can tune into Los Altos’ own radio station, WNUT 530 on the AM dial, for instructions.

The new transmission tower, installed in June, replaced the one lost when Santa Clara County officials took control of the Almond Avenue fire station and renovated the building.

“We now have pretty much full coverage for the city of Los Altos,” Ieufer said.

During a disaster, Los Altos police headquarters would become the Emergency Operations Center with hams dispatched to designated areas, such as schools, to report damage. It’s currently ham operator Tom Smith’s job to go to headquarters to coordinate messages from the other hams.

“Hams will do what’s called windshield surveys to find out where the major damage is,” Smith said. “We need to find out the extent of the problem. We’re working for the police department at this point.”

“How would they find out how extensive the damage is?” Ieufer asked. “That’s why the hams have the right resources to plug that gap (when regular communications go down).”

Also aiding the department is new communications software, Teleminder, capable of sending five messages simultaneously. Last year, the police won a grant for the $25,000 system which allows officers to click on a specific area on a map to trigger warning calls to residents.

“You can customize (messages) to what you want to tell people,” said Mark Johnson, vice president of business development for Decision Systems of Los Altos, makers of Teleminder. “Any way you want to call people, you can do it (with this system).”

It is not necessary for the message to come from police headquarters. Messages can be phoned in to Teleminder from remote locations, Johnson said.

Local schools also are in good shape in the event of a disaster, said Marge Gratiot, Los Altos School District superintendent.

“It’s important that children are in a safe place,” Gratiot said. “Schools are the safest place you could be.”

In addition to teachers, administrators and students drilled on safety procedures, the schools have stored water and first aid supplies on hand. And of course, there are those classroom desks to get under when things start shaking. “We’re prepared,” Gratiot said.

Although communications during the first hour after disasters such as earthquakes can be “rocky,” Loucks said, Los Altos is in good shape to respond due to the involvement of residents, such as the hams, and the CERT members.

“We’re more self-sufficient than we’ve ever been,” Loucks said. “But we still have a long way to go.”