Friday, October 23, 2015

[Napa County] Letter: Don’t make disaster plans on the fly

Blog note: this letter refers to a 2008 grand jury report.
I was pleased to see your preparedness article “Napa could be lifeboat in a major Bay Area quake” (Oct. 13).
The “lifeboat” analogy is an excellent reminder of what Napa County’s role may be in the event of a major Bay Area disaster. A lifeboat that may very well be swamped if we do not prepare in advance.
Your readers may be interested to know that in May of 2008, the Napa County grand jury, in a report on the Napa County Office of Emergency Services, used this same lifeboat analogy to identify the need to prepare for the possibility of a mass influx of refugees ("Grand Jury calls on county to prepare for the worst," May 17, 2008).
The grand jury specifically recommended that “the impact of a significant influx of Bay Area disaster refugees into Napa County be evaluated and specific plans prepared to deal with this eventuality.”
As usual, the county’s response was “underwhelming,” failing to agree with the grand jury’s recommendation and noting that "planning for the potential impact must be in cooperation with neighboring jurisdictions … we are awaiting the Association of Bay Area Government’s (ABAG) Recovery Plan Toolkit.”
Well, the ABAG Toolkit was issued in 2012, and updated in 2013. The Napa County Hazard Mitigation Plan was updated in 2013. Both of these documents focus on local response to a disaster (primarily earthquake), which is their primary function. I was unable to find the “county shelter plan drafted in 2008,” referenced in the article, but shelter is only a portion of the overall planning required (e.g., medical care, mental patient care, law enforcement).
The county’s Hazard Mitigation Plan continues to ignore the “lifeboat” issue. We had a small glimpse of the impact of refugees with the recent Lake County fires, not to mention the ongoing, horrific Syrian refugee disaster. Wouldn’t it be better to have concrete plans in place rather than to make arrangements “on the fly”?
October 18, 2015
Napa Valley Register
Letter-to-the-editor by John K. Norris, Napa


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