When I operated a hospital-based ambulance service decades ago we offered free education to rural and frontier volunteer EMS organizations. The service would house and feed us and we would give them a great weekend of education.  We did it because we were fortunate to have the knowledge, skills and abilities and the backing of administration. I also did it in order to inspire other agencies to do the same. It was a great partnership that served us all well and I have a number of great memories. I like to hope that because of the efforts of my crew somewhere down the line lives were saved.

Over the last 5-6 years I have met and helped mentor a number of young graduate students in homeland security and emergency management. The next generation. In many ways I think they have skill sets superior to mine. What they often lack and are in search of is practical experience.

My readers know I am quite passionate about the need for preparedness in coastal communities likely to face the brunt of a major earthquake/tsunami threat such as a Cascadia event.  I have worked with a number of paying clients. But so many more with risk but not the resources have need. I’ve heard of lawyers doing pro bono work but never emergency planners. I’m going to change that.

I’m offering to develop tsunami annexes at no fee or substantially reduced fee for small coastal communities that meet the following conditions:

  • Have significant life-safety risk from tsunamis
  • Currently lack a tsunami annex to their existing emergency plans
  • Lack dedicated emergency planning expertise or the means to obtain
  • Offer assurances the tsunami annex will be trained and exercised annually for the next 5 years
  • Allow the experience to be documented for possible publication
  • Notify A Better Emergency anytime the annex will be exercised or actual tsunami event

 

Work will be done by graduate students with my quality assurance oversight and/or a combination of myself and graduate students.

My experience as a child in 1964 seeing all the dead cow bodies on the Oregon beach after small 9′ tsunami run-up allows me to envision what a Cascadia event will leave behind. If my offer today lets me partner with a community and together we someday saves lives down the line, it’s time well spent.

Contact me today and we can start a conversation.