Lesson for disaster-prone cities
LOS ANGELES — Cities across the country that live with the threat of disaster — from earthquakes in San Francisco to hurricanes in Miami — are anxiously watching the catastrophe unfolding in Houston for lessons learned, cautionary tales, anything to soften the blow when their residents are the ones in danger.
“We know we are racing against the clock,” said Elaine Forbes, the executive director of the Port of San Francisco, her office buttressed by a century-old seawall that could collapse in an earthquake. “Seeing Houston stoked the fire.”
Emergency disaster officials in cities like Baltimore, Boston and Seattle have spent the last week and a half monitoring how Texan government officials and storm-affected residents are responding to a crisis that destroyed homes and disrupted electricity, drinking water and communications.
The causes might be different, but the devastation and social disruption can be similar from disaster to disaster. As such, Houston is offering other cities a real-life runthrough of their own emergency plans as well as a stark reminder of the inevitability of such events.
“We look at this and realize that while they might be underwater, we someday will be under crumbled buildings,” said Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles. “And it will take years, if not decades, to rebuild.”
Some of the lessons, officials said, have been encouraging, in particular the initial willingness of Republicans in Washington, some of whom famously resisted providing assistance after Hurricane Sandy pummeled New York and New Jersey in 2012, to approve the billions of dollars that will be needed to rebuild.
But Houston has also been a disturbing reminder of how even the best emergency plans are often not up to the task.
“It makes you realize, these megastorms, if you haven’t been hit by one, your worst-case scenario is nowhere near a true worst-case scenario,” said Daniel Kelly, the executive director of the New Jersey Office of Recovery and Rebuilding, as he recalled his state’s struggle to respond to Hurricane Sandy.
Alex Padilla, the California secretary of state and a former state senator who helped push through financing for an early-alert statewide system for earthquakes, said that even though this was a different kind of event in a different state, it could only help efforts here to encourage people to prepare.
“It triggers memories of the Bay Area quake or the Northridge quake,” he said, adding that Harvey has prompted many to ask, “Are we ready? Are we prepared?”