Hello Alain,
 
Thank you for your valuable background info.  I am CERT trained and greatly value that knowledge and the simulation experience I gained.  This training is very important in the first few days of a disaster, as you say.  I highly recommend that every citizen complete this training, the more, the better.  Even one person trained and prepared in a neighborhood can make a critical life-saving difference.
 
If a citizen needs help, 911 is generally the only game in town in their minds.  CERT presents a practical option if 911 doesn’t fill the citizen’s need.  They need to be aware of this though.
 
I suggest that if a citizen doesn’t attend CERT training themselves, they better at least acquaint themselves with someone who does.
 
Keep up your good work.  Let’s get the message out and activate as many people as we can.
 
Thank you,
Rod
 
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Sbarc-list] Redundant systems
 
" When I ask, "how do we get help when the big one hits?", the answer is always, "dial 911"."
 
Hi Rod,
 
I don't mean to sound impertinent but that's funny; "call 911".
 
Both my wife and I are FEMA trained CERT instructors down here in San Diego County; we instruct our students that if they follow the "disaster preparedness" we outline, they may not need 911.
 
First responders are going to be sooo overwhelmed that the fire, EMT's and law enforcement that Santa Barbara current enjoys, may very well be deployed elsewhere [if damage is just light to moderate] to cities [Ventura  and elsewhere] where the damage may be much more severe.
 
For at least the first 72 hours, folks are going to be on their own---prepared or not. We instruct our citizens to be prepared for 7 days...minimum.
 
Late last year, I was listening to L.A.'s KNX 1070 AM radio station. A reporter was interviewing an L.A. fire chief who was retiring. She asked him how well LA County "first responders" were prepared to handle another Northridge or a Landers?
 
His response? "There are about 10,000 first responders [emt's & firefighters] for 4 million people---you do the math."
 
I must say that I am a bit surprised there there are not more SBARC folks chiming in...
 
Vry 73 de Alan...N6HPO
Valley Center C.E.R.T.
WWW.VCFPDCERT.ORG


On Thursday, March 12, 2015 8:42 AM, "Rod Fritz (rod@sbatv.org)" <rfritz22@cox.net> wrote:


Thank you Andy and Bill. I was delighted to see your article. It clearly states some concerns that I have and have likewise tried to work around, as you have.
 
One important contention of mine comes to mind. That's the vulnerability and limitations of the 911 system. When I ask, "how do we get help when the big one hits?", the answer is always, "dial 911".
 
As you have just illustrated, that may not work. Furthermore, even if it does, I contend that 911 access and access to resources may quickly be saturated and ineffective. This rings of "best effort" again. Legislators might admit we can't afford a perfect system (or maybe even an excellent or very good one?). As the currently common (I hate it) reply goes, "it is what it is."
 
Worse yet, when access to resources is limited, who gets them?  I leave it to your imagination how this would play out but I contend that individual citizens are on the bottom of the list.
 
I recognize and applaud CERT for what they are doing to prepare citizens. They are an important part of the solution but they don't address the communication that is necessary.  I know they're working to improve in this area and we ought to assist them in this regard.
 
Consider ham radio as a partial solution...
 
I want to preface this by saying that I believe that ARES is a valuable resource. ARES is well established but it relies solely on 911 for community (citizen) input. It is my understanding that there is no plan in place for citizens to contact emergency services through ARES. ARES is subservient to the government and the 911 system. I believe that ARES could be structured to better serve the citizens of the community, but it is what it is.  I welcome any changes that would make the ARES structure serve citizens better.
 
And then there's SBARC... SBARC has incredible potential to serve the citizens of the community and we're already part way there. We need to stop relying solely on ARES for amateur radio emergency services. We need to help more citizens become "active" radio amateurs. How about at least one per city block? We need to establish an end to end plan with real redundancy to connect citizens to services they need, even when conventional means don't work. This would use a diversity of communication types and paths, not only ham radio.  I think several of us have good ideas how we can make this work well and I know it is needed and would be oh so valuable when the big one hits.
 
Details are beyond the scope of this email but I propose an SBARC Emergency Service committee to make it happen.
 
As an SBARC Board member, I will attempt to establish this committee.  Which of you would like to participate?
 
73,
Rod Fritz, WB9KMO
 
 


-------- Original message --------
From: William Talanian <w1uuq@cox.net>
Date: 03/12/2015 7:22 AM (GMT-06:00)
To: sbarc list <sbarc-list@lists.netlojix.com>
Subject: [Sbarc-list] Redundant systems



Think it can't happen?

<http://andrewseybold.com/3539-it-cant-happen-to-me>

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