Public can aid disaster readiness
Emergency preparedness begins with public preparedness, said Joy Sanders, director of the Garland County Department of Emergency Management.
“If people can plan to survive a disaster for up to three days, that would be a tremendous help to ( the department),” she said. After such disasters as the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., on Monday, Sanders said interest in emergency response “always goes up, but it then wanes, and people forget they need to do advance preparation.”
The EF5 tornado that struck Moore killed more than 20 people and reduced whole neighborhoods to rubble. Sanders said it would be difficult for any county to respond adequately to such a storm, but Garland County “is as well- prepared as we can be” in terms of manpower and equipment.
Garland County has been raked by severe weather including ice storms, tornados and floods in recent years. Though each emergency presents its own set of challenges, Sanders said communication is key to surviving any crisis.
In October, the department relocated to the former National Guard Armory on Mid- America Boulevard. The building was reconfigured and updated to accommodate communications and rescue equipment, computer systems, conference rooms, and shelters. An 80- foot, freestanding radio tower that will “support everything we need” has been erected in back of the building, Sanders said. It replaces one that fell in the 2001 ice storm.
“We’ll put our redundant equipment on the new one, and it will run our Emergency Operations Center,” she said.
There are no outdoor tornado warning sirens in the county. Sanders said they are cost- prohibitive, designed only to be heard outdoors, and provide no information. Instead, weather warnings are transmitted via NOAA weather radios — which Sanders encourages residents to purchase.
“People depend on TV to find out about the weather, and that’s great — if the power is still on,” she said. “If the power goes out for a number of days, it’s good to have the radio in your home.”
She said outdoor warning systems are expensive to maintain and ineffective in mountainous terrain. “They rust, birds nest in them. They’re designed to only be heard if you happen to be outside.”
Still, getting county residents to understand that they need these radios can be challenging.
“I’ll go and talk to groups to try and get the word out, and I’ll ask for a show of hands, how many people have NOAA weather radios? And I’ll get a smattering of hands raised.”
Having proper access to information is an important part of what Sanders called the first phase of preparedness, but being sufficiently supplied to ride out a storm’s aftermath is also important.
“People need to have enough supplies on hand to sustain themselves for 72 hours after a disaster,” she said. “If you have all you need in a five- gallon bucket, or in a suitcase, and you can take it with you and live for three days, it is extremely helpful.”
She said no matter the emergency — fire, tornado, flood — having access to legal documents cash, prescription medication, clothing, water, and food, is part of the planning that should be done “on the front end.”
“That includes having a plan for where to go in case you have to evacuate,” she said. “If you live in a mobile home, does your neighbor have a storm shelter? Where is the nearest brick house?”
As seen in Moore, electronic communications can be knocked out for days.
“You might not be able to call on a cellphone, but you can send a text,” Sanders said. “Or, you might not be able to place a local call, but you can call out of state. That’s why it is important to know someone in another state you can call in case of emergency.”
She said it can take time for emergency responders to reach the scene of a disaster. Roads are often impassable and must be cleared. “We cannot get to everyone first.”
Though no one can precisely predict an emergency, Sanders said years of constant exposure reveals patterns.
“Floods always happen in the same areas. ( Garland County) is on top of a water shed; our floodwaters recede rapidly, but that means Hot Spring and Clark counties see flooding after we do. Those emergency managers know the bridges and farms that will flood. We have tracked our floodwaters to Slidell, La. When we get a flood, we can notify those all the way downstream.”
Grants have helped purchase such equipment as a mass- casualty vehicle that includes a “fullystocked trailer,” she said. First responders can use this equipment to treat victims on- scene before they are transported to a hospital.
After a disaster occurs, officials representing a variety of agencies — Hot Springs Police Department, Garland County Sheriff’s Department, hospitals, and so forth — will gather at the command center in the former armory and direct those in the field.
“We get officials together who can make decisions — in other words, commit to spending money to expend resources,” Sanders said. “Those in the field are those you normally see on the front lines — police officers, firefighters, EMTs.”
She said emergency response and clean- up are expensive propositions and require agencies to make those commitments early in the process. After certain thresholds are met, counties are reimbursed through the state by FEMA.
“A disaster starts and ends locally,” Sanders said. “After the state and federal resources are gone, we are still here.”
The department has full- time staff of four. “We are here 24/ 7 in an emergency,” she said. “Until it’s done.”