Keep pushing on quake preparedness

Some of the images from Mardi Gras remind us that Gulf residents still have a long way to go to recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As they continue to pick up the pieces, we need to keep in the forefront that we should do everything we can to be prepared for an emergency. Ours is a more critical mission since we will not have several days’ notice before a big earthquake hits here like the hurricane warnings in the Gulf region.

Last week, the Los Altos City Council met with Police Chief Bob Lacey, a number of city employees and the Citizens Corps Council, the advisory group on emergency preparedness, to get an update on how the city is progressing. In the last year and a half, some key steps have been made to form a response plan that includes ham radio operators, possible shelter sites, responders and a mobile trailer, which contains some necessary supplies. However, much, much more needs to be done.

As we have seen in New Orleans, this is a matter of public safety. We agree with the Citizens Corps Council that an emergency response coordinator needs to be hired in Los Altos. We strongly urge the city council to approve a paid position for such a coordinator. Right now, three police officials are working in their spare time in addition to their full-time responsibilities. The others working on emergency response plans are volunteers.

If the city takes the lead in making this a priority by hiring a point person, more citizens would be able to get involved in emergency response training. Right now, nearly 150 people have been certified. More residents need to step forward. As Lacey has pointed out, there are not enough police and fire responders in Los Altos to deal with the 30,000 residents who might need help.

Some suggest training other city workers, teachers and the business community. However, if the big one hits at night or during the weekend, these people would probably not be in Los Altos to help, because most of them cannot afford to live here. This is another good reason to have residents ready to go to help themselves and their neighbors.

The faster we can get more people trained and plugged into a response plan, the more self-sufficient Los Altos will be. The city can take a big step in that direction by hiring someone to concentrate full time on executing the plan that is in place to help protect our citizens if an emergency strikes our wonderful community.

We encourage residents to take action by contacting your councilmembers about the importance of preparedness: Mayor Ron Packard (rdpackard@packard.com); Val Carpenter (vcarpenter@aol.com); David Casas (David.Casas@alumni.pepperdine.edu); Kurt Colehower (Kurt50@sbcglobal.net); and Curtis Cole (ccole@colefamily.org).

As we have seen, we can’t depend on state and federal officials. So it’s time for Los Altos to act.