Being prepared for disaster easier than ever

Remember the civil defense shelters with the cans of World War II crackers and water? I remember when one of the buildings of the old Matanuska Farmer’s Co-op was used as a shelter. During exercises, we elementary students were walked over there from Central School (now the borough building) to a building where there were barrels of supplies stored. In those days, we were practicing civil defense in preparation for nuclear war.

In those days, the 1950s and ’60s when I grew up here, there were not many people in Alaska. Alaska’s population did not exceed 300,000 until the trans-Alaska pipeline project began. In those days, Alaskans could take care of themselves. We had at least two weeks of minus 20-degree and colder weather every winter and more than a month of below zero weather. In Fairbanks and Big Delta, minus 50 was not uncommon in the winter.

The wind blew in the Mat-Su from about June to the end of May, excepting the cold snaps. Dust from the Matanuska and/or a Knik wind were common sights in the summer. From about December to mid-January, blowing snow was a common sight anywhere in the Valley. Wind across Wasilla Lake was, and still is, brutal at times.

When the 1964 earthquake hit, there was little in the way of preparedness training. Alaskans were prepared to a great extent, as Alaska’s climate and geography conditioned people to deal with extremes and with the unexpected.

In the past, 100 mph winds in Anchorage during the winter were not that uncommon. Alaska was, and still is, unforgiving and without remorse for the unprepared. If the weather pattern has a 50-year cycle, we are coming back around to a time of harsher climate in Alaska.

After Sept. 11, 2001, there was a strong emphasis to prepare Americans for more attacks. FEMA created the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program to enable citizens to prepare for disasters and to act as an immediate emergency response to aid their neighbors who might be injured or trapped. It was soon realized that CERT training was applicable to any disaster response, whether man-made or natural, urban or rural.

CERT will give you the ability to prepare your family for an emergency. Planning is a major part of the training. You will learn to plan your food and water needs and to learn how to make up preparedness bags. Planning is important for your family so that they know where to go and what to do should there be a major event that disrupts communications and transportation.

I understand that the Alaska Shield Exercise this year will focus on an extended power outage in Southcentral. This scenario is all too possible as there is a very high probability that a period of extended low winter temperatures would create such demand that the natural gas supply to Southcentral would be outstripped with a resulting natural gas compressor failure in the Kenai/Cook Inlet gas fields. In which case, it could be up to two years before the fields could be pressurized to restore gas to Chugach’s Beluga generators and to be able to also provide heat to Southcentral homes and businesses.

A compressor failure was a fairly common event in the winter when temperatures would remain very cold for a period of two weeks or longer. However, over the years, the gas supply has declined, depressurizing the fields and making them more susceptible to compressor failure.

Rolling blackouts would be the result, as there would be insufficient power to keep all of Southcentral in lights and heat. In the middle of winter, this would be a serious disaster situation. Without adequate preparation, many Alaskans would be in serious jeopardy and the state’s resources would be overtaxed. In his Aug. 24 press conference with Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, Gov. Sean Parnell said Alaskans needed to be prepared for a disaster and to take personal responsibility for their own safety. CERT training will help you prepare your family for an emergency.

CERT is good disaster preparedness training for the family. The training is free. The program is still ongoing. For more information, visit the Mat-Su Borough’s website for emergency preparedness, matsugov.us/eoc. The borough CERT website is matsugov.us/des/msbcert. Bea Adler coordinates the CERT program for the borough. She can be reached at 373-8822.

I encourage all who are concerned about the eventuality of a natural disaster in Alaska to take CERT training with your family.

Larry Wood is a 57-year resident of Alaska and businessman who has been Butte trash and proud of it since 1961.