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Proposal for
Puget Sound Disaster Preparedness and Home Safety Center
Are we as residents of the Puget Sound region ready to handle the next natural or manmade disaster or changes in our every day lives due to global warming or public health issues? Do people know where to get correct or consolidated information on how to become and stay prepared, and are they using it? How could agency and private partnerships motivate more residents of the region and state to become prepared?
The initial idea to study the necessity and feasibility of a Disaster Preparedness & Home Safety Center that would serve the greater Puget Sound region came from a May 2007 international study mission to Fukuoka, Japan sponsored by the Seattle Trade Development Alliance and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. During this trip, the members of the study mission, including more than 70 government and business leaders from around the region, including Councilmembers Richard Conlin and Jan Drago, had the opportunity to visit the Fukuoka City Citizens’ Disaster Prevention Center. The Center includes both facilities simulating earthquakes and violent wind conditions and educational areas where visitors can practice fire-fighting and CPR techniques. Their experiences in these activities impressed upon the study mission members the potential benefit such a facility would have for the Puget Sound region.
Upon returning from this study mission, a core group of trip participants held a meeting in August 2007 to discuss their mutual interest in and commitment toward moving forward with the idea of such a disaster center. They felt that the first step should be hiring a consultant to complete a feasibility study for the creation of a center to serve the Puget Sound region. Councilmembers Drago and Conlin were able to obtain $75,000 from the City Council’s own budget to provide funding for the initial study. The scope of work for the project would include gathering public input, performing background research, and determining the cost of some feasible alternatives. In December 2007, the firm Arai Jackson Ellison Murakami LLP was awarded the contract for the feasibility study.
The first step in determining whether a disaster preparedness and home safety center would benefit the region was to gauge the interest and commitment of business and government leaders in this effort. For the purposes of the study, a "stakeholder group" of 20+ professionals in the emergency management, public health, City government, and related industries was formed. This group informed the process by contributing their time and expertise in three key exercises included in this process: completing an online stakeholder survey, attending two visioning workshops, and participating in targeted interviews conducted by AJEM or consultant staff.
If the concept for a Disaster Preparedness and Home Safety Center were to become a reality, it would be the first of its kind in the United States. Such a center could serve to augment the existing disaster preparedness resources, could serve as a physical complement to the educational programs currently available, and could have the potential to provide a motivating experience for many people, to encourage them to go home and become prepared to cope during the three or more days following a regional emergency situation, or an every-day home emergency.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Puget Sound Disaster Preparedness and Home Safety Center would provide experiential training, deliver hands-on outreach activities, and serve as a central location for information on emergency preparedness and home safety. The Center would educate and train residents of the region and tourists on a broad range of preparedness and home safety topics, so that in the event of a disaster or home emergency, there would be minimal loss of life and property.
VISION STATEMENT
The Puget Sound Disaster Preparedness and Home Safety Center would be easily accessible and would serve the region by delivering educational programs on-site at its central location, and would supplement these programs at off-site locations and with mobile exhibits and training.
Visiting the Center would be always exciting with its one of a kind experiential training, such as opportunities to feel and respond to a realistic earthquake simulation and learn how to use a fire extinguisher through hands-on training. These activities would be available for a wide spectrum of audiences, including students, families, businesses, tourists, and special needs populations. All programs would support the Center’s goal of providing the critical motivation for the residents of the region to prepare themselves, their families, their homes, their workplaces, and their communities to respond appropriately and mitigate the losses from disasters and emergencies.
In keeping with its mission, the Center would collaborate with government at all levels, as well as with those organizations in the private sector concerned with home safety and disaster preparedness. Through partnerships with others, including research institutions and training programs, the Center would maintain a comprehensive library of information dealing with disaster preparedness so that it would be the "go-to" place for relevant up-to-date literature, with particular focus on hazards specific to the Puget Sound region. The Center would also provide current information on disasters as they happen locally, throughout the U.S., and around the world, to educate residents on the impact of disasters on other communities and to encourage people to become and to stay prepared.
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