Moore: Time to rethink readiness

Imagine that you have no electric power during a long and intense heat wave. You can’t run a fan and your refrigerated food is spoiling. Air conditioning (if you have it), cell phones and the internet don’t work. Now imagine elderly folks, those with medical and mobility challenges, and families with babies and young children facing these circumstances.

Houston, Texas recently experienced this reality. Its nightmare is one of many events signaling we need to rethink readiness. A changing climate, over-reliance on digital technology, strained electrical grids and aging infrastructure are converging in a potent mix. Individual preparedness and the standard tools of emergency management are insufficient for this new era.

Research consistently shows that by far the most protective factor for reducing deaths during disasters is the strength of the relationships among people in a community. Places with more social cohesion have better outcomes. If it’s time to evacuate, people are more likely to bang on their neighbors’ doors. If it’s a shelter-in-place scenario, they’ll share information, supplies and camaraderie. If the challenge is finding a chainsaw to clear a tree blocking a front door, someone will know someone else who has one. Social connection is all-purpose.

How can we foster networks of neighbors? Seattle Emergency Hubs is an inspiring model. Residents there created a system of more than 75 community meeting spots across the city where people can go during disasters. They have low tech systems for tracking what is going on and connecting people who might be able to help each other. It’s a kind of “social media” — but one powered by face-to-face conversations, information tracked on clipboards and human messengers.

Most of us are too dependent on our phones. So are the government agencies responsible for emergency management. They rely heavily on text alerts and other digital technologies like the system that failed in Lahaina, Hawaii as the wildfire spread on Maui. Similar problems have occurred in many places.

I founded Certain Together to help teach and further develop the kinds of systems the Seattle hubs pioneered. I like to call them Village Hubs. There are many variations on this theme that communities could create depending on their local circumstances. Hubs might even prove to be useful all the time, not just during disasters, and could help address the epidemic of social isolation.

Governments are not well-suited to organizing grassroots community networks. But they can partner with these projects and highlight how important they are — which is exactly what the Seattle Office of Emergency Management does. Local agencies also need to be more forthcoming about the reality that the 911 system and other services will be overwhelmed during major disasters. Neighborhoods will be on their own for longer periods — measured in days not hours — as disruptions become more frequent and intense.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides communities with a 20-hour curriculum for Community Emergency Response Teams. That time commitment is too high for most people. We need simple decentralized ways to engage folks who realistically might invest a couple of hours connecting with neighbors around a fun project like establishing a local community hub.

Events in the news are challenging us to thoroughly rethink old assumptions about preparedness. We need strategies that are validated by research, flexible and low tech. Most importantly, we should invest in grassroots community capacity because neighbors may be the only ones who can be there for our loved ones when it matters most.

David Smathers Moore lives in San Jose where he completed the Community Emergency Response Team training and is the founder of Certain Together.