Neighbors lead outside help to “damaged and injured” blocks
Saturday evening, August 19, 5-9pm
Cleland Bicentennial Park and Mt. Washington Jessica Neighborhood
Combined Resources Exercise with:
- Mt. Washington Jessica Neighborhood (MWJN) Residents
- Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) blocks
- Residents who hadn’t yet had MYN workshops
- Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members
- from MWJN
- CERT members from Northeast LA and beyond
- Special guests from the California State Reserves (CSMR)
- Paramedics
- Firefighters
- Law Enforcement
THE SCENARIO
At 6:00 pm a massive earthquake hits Los Angeles. The Mt. Washington – Jessica neighborhood was hit hard. Some buildings had major cracks, some power lines were down, and many injuries occurred. There were small fires burning and several pets running loose.
MYN blocks followed their 9 steps in the first hour and report significant damage and injuries. CERT members realized the scale and call d for backup from nearby CERT teams. Coincidentally, a State Reserves team is nearby on a training assignment when the quake hit and offered additional support.
WHAT DID WE PRACTICE?
The 9 steps – what MYN teaches us to do in the first hour following a disaster- Communications: face-to-face, FRS radios, CERT forms
- The Incident Command System – how responders from different areas organize together
- Triage – how to assess damages and injuries (Triage comes from the French verb trier, meaning to separate out or to sort. )
- Working at night – the drill began before sunset but was dark as the last teams finished.
- Neighbor Helping Neighbor – what it’s all about…
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
- We have a great neighborhood – we had great turnout and and participation!
- Communications need improvement – limited range of radios, similar sounding call signs combined with limited planning/training led to difficulties on the airwaves (but what an improvement from our last drill!)
- Cooperation worked: MYN found using the CERT form helpful; CERT liked the Map added to the form.
- More training would benefit everyone: First Aid classes, Radio communications, more Drills.
- Everyone likes pizza!
A complete “After Action Report” will be available at a later date.
SEE MORE DRILL PHOTOS
Find out about CERT classes here or contact patrick@cert-la-battalion2.com
Find out about getting your block prepared with Map Your Neighborhood here or contact info@mtwashingtonjessica.org
