A Report of the 2002-2003 Civil Grand Jury For the City and County of San Francisco It’s a Catastrophe:

Helicopters are essential to adequate disaster response.

Coordinated and comprehensive emergency planning has not occurred on a continuing basis. An unofficial group of department heads, the Kawa-Harrington group, has come into existence to fill the resulting void. 7

Involvement of department heads and elected officers in emergency planning through the Disaster Council is necessary if City departments are to assume responsibility and devote the departmental time, resources, and personnel necessary to train for and carry out the response activities called for in the integrated City emergency plan. Their involvement is also essential if they are to recognize the need to prepare and maintain their own departmental response plans on an ongoing basis. This goal cannot be achieved if the Disaster Council does not meet regularly, if the members of the Council do not represent all key personnel involved emergency response, or if neither the City emergency plan nor department plans are reviewed and updated continuously.

Members of the Board of Supervisors may be required to perform significant executive as well as legislative functions in an emergency including serving as Mayor/Commander in Chief; concurring in the declaration of emergency and the actions taken to meet it; amending a declaration of emergency as long as the emergency exists; taking away emergency powers; reviewing the Emergency Declaration every 14 days, and, finally terminating the Emergency Declaration. The Director of Emergency Services has not ensured that members of the Board understand these emergency responsibilities.

The Director of Emergency Services has failed to meet the regulatory responsibilities imposed by Sections 7.6.l and 7.9 of the San Francisco Administrative Code to develop and maintain an integrated emergency plan that is continuously reviewed.

All city officials who may assume leadership in a major emergency must be informed of and understand the emergency procedures. Without proper preparation, members of the Board of Supervisors could inadvertently communicate erroneous information to residents or to providers of emergency resources. The failure to ensure that members of the Board receive training and are fully knowledgeable about emergency response plans could have serious negative consequences leading to chaos and disorganization rather than the effective leadership needed most during a major disaster. If the leaders in a city emergency are not knowledgeable about and comply with State mutual aid requirements, the City may not be eligible to receive mutual aid or reimbursement from State and Federal governments for response-related costs under disaster assistance programs.

The Mayor through the Director of Emergency Services and the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Services is responsible for ensuring that members of the Board of Supervisors and all City officials with emergency response duties receive adequate training for and understand those duties. The Mayor has not fulfilled this responsibility.

If radio and telephone communications fail in a disaster, HAM radios may be the only mode of communication available.