Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services

Additional training for the community is held through several active volunteer groups. Community Emergency Response Teams or CERT training. CERT is the primary organized community response in the event of a disaster. This is the central premise behind the Neighbors Helping Neighbors response effort. In a disaster, help from emergency service personnel, communications systems such as cell phone service, and travel may be very restricted or nonexistent. OES is teaching Del Norte County residents that the best practice for emergency preparation is for individual neighborhoods and communities to have an organized plan to provide for their own needs in an emergency. Currently there are 36 high school students who are part of a Teen CERT, and over 100 people were part of an adult CERT. New classes begin throughout the year, and new volunteers are always welcome. Disaster Animal Response Teams or DART training. DART plans a coordinated response to assure the safety of pets and livestock in the event of a disaster. 30

The Neighbors Helping Neighbors program was actually created specifically for Del Norte County. A local retired teacher modified disaster preparation curriculum and training and rewrote it specifically for the needs of our rural community. Broader goals of Neighbors Helping Neighbors include neighborhood watch programs, community gardens and other elements of healthy vibrant communities.

Grant funding has helped increase the number of staff working on disaster preparedness. Grants have funded a few part time staff to work on specific projects such as disaster training lesson plans (including Neighbors Helping Neighbors), outreach and promotion, and training within schools. In the current fiscal year there are at least five different grants to manage, provide reports, etc. The Red Cross is a great partner helping provide training and opening shelters in the event of an emergency.

While the majority of the work of OES is preparation, training and planning, in the event of a real disaster all these plans are called into action. On March 18, 2011, when the 9.0 earthquake in Japan triggered a tsunami that was later to strike Crescent City, OES activated the Emergency Operations Center, coordinating a calm and efficient evacuation of over 1,500 residents and visitors from the tsunami zone. Between the hours of midnight and 5:00 am every person and pet within the tsunami zone was evacuated to a safe place without delay and notably, without a single injury. This real-life event speaks to the success the training and preparation that OES has coordinated with a multitude of agencies and residents over the past several years.

While Del Norte County is a leader among West Coast emergency preparedness communities, there remains much work to do to fill gaps in our own preparedness. Identified gaps were: emergency preparedness for persons with disabilities; emergency preparedness and preparation for persons who speak languages other than English; increasing the number of organizations and individuals involved in emergency preparedness efforts.

Del Norte County is no stranger to disaster. Floods and tsunamis have devastated our communities and have tragically taken lives. Yet we are a resilient community. Our rural isolation has taught us to depend on each other in everyday life, so we are prepared to do the same when facing a disaster. OES plans, trains, and preparers our entire community to survive any disaster that may come our way.