September 27, 2007

District 10 Report

City, county prepared for disasters

By Councilmember Nancy Pyle
Special to the Times

Many San Jose residents may not be aware that I serve as the chair of Santa Clara County’s Emergency Preparedness Council. The mission of the Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council is to create a standard operating procedure for disaster preparedness and response for all governmental entities residing within Santa Clara County. If and when a disaster does occur in San Jose, each city in the county, the water district and other local entities will be prepared to work together.

With the observance of Sept. 11 several weeks ago, and since September is national emergency preparedness month, I felt it necessary to address the ways our city and county have remained prepared in the event of a local disaster or regional emergency.

This year marks the sixth anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. Although we are far from ground zero, the impact of this event continues to influence us in San Jose. As we reflect upon that day, I want to share with you ways that it has influenced our preparation here.

Shortly after 9-11, the federal government initiated homeland security grant funding to provide financial resources to cities and counties so they could better prepare for terrorist events. San Jose was the direct recipient of $16 million through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant, and we have received additional funding from grants that were awarded to Santa Clara County. 

The San Jose Office of Emergency Services, working in conjunction with its public safety partners, developed a strategic vision to ensure that homeland security funds would enhance our preparedness for both natural and manmade disasters. This vision had three areas of focus and included equipment, training, and field exercises.

Using subject matter experts from our police and fire departments, equipment purchases were initiated that en-hances our ability to respond to, or recover from, events involving chemical, biological, ra-diological, nu-clear or explosive agents.  Our first responders now have a variety of tools available to detect and mitigate the effects of the agents associated with wea-pons of mass destruction.

While our first responders have always trained for the traditional hazards they face, after 9-11 that training had to include a focus on terrorist events. Depending on their role in an actual event, the training they have received has ranged from courses on situational awareness and incident command to intensive Israeli special agent de-briefings. Additionally, specialized teams like the police department’s bomb squad and the hazardous material team from the fire department have participated in military-sponsored “live agent” training.

Several times throughout the year, our crews participate in live exercises designed to mimic the actions they would take in actual events. These local exercises are conducted to ensure our response is the very best it can be. This November, San Jose is co-hosting the Golden Guardian ’07 exercise with Santa Clara County. This statewide event has been in the planning stage for the past nine months and will focus on a biological incident at a large stadium venue that will involve participants from throughout our county operational area. This exercise will culminate with a medication center being established to distribute medications to those involved.

Rest assured that behind the scenes our staff is working diligently to take us to the highest level of preparation possible. I am mindful that one of the basic premises of local government is to provide for public safety, and I want you to know that the city of San Jose maintains a clear focus on the actions, which are needed to face regional emergencies.

San Jose and the Bay Area region at large are nationally recognized as leaders in the field of emergency preparedness and response. However, recent tragedies, including Hurricane Katrina have caused me to reflect on what additional steps need to be taken to protect residents in the event of a disaster.

The most important lesson learned from these catastrophes is that preparedness starts at home with families and neighborhoods. Immediately after a disaster strikes, whether the incident is a serious earthquake or a terrorist attack, communities must come together and care for themselves. San Jose’s Office of Emergency Services recommends that each household be prepared to care for themselves for at least 72 hours.

Tragically, in Hurricane Katrina it was the elderly, the poverty-stricken and persons with disabilities who were left behind. We should not allow these people to be forgotten should disaster strike San Jose. Preparing every household and neighborhood in the city is an ambitious plan, but history has proven that involving neighborhoods is the only way to protect all of our residents in a disaster.

My colleagues on the city council and I took a very positive first step in January of this year by authorizing the hiring of two additional full-time positions in the Office of Emergency Services. Armed with these new employees, the Office of Emergency Services has been directed to train 500 new residents this year to care for themselves and those around them in an emergency.

San Jose’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) has created a new two-hour course to teach to neighborhoods and families in our city. I encourage each District 10 resident to get together a group of friends and neighbors to take this course. San Jose OES will teach the course in your neighborhood and is available on nights and weekends in addition to normal working hours. Ideal class sizes are 10-40 residents.

I am working with many local neighborhood associations and residents to better publicize these trainings and hope to provide the tools necessary to prepare every neighborhood within our district in the event of a disaster. For more information on the Office of Emergency Services, visit their Web site at http://www.sanjoseca.gov/emergencyservices/. For more information on the Emergency Preparedness Council or ways to stay prepared, please call my office at (408) 535-4910.