CRX After Action Report for Marrowstone Island From Tanda: We would like to hear from all neighborhoods that want to tell what they see as their “Strengths” and what “Issues” need Improvement. This includes all neighborhoods that participated at the Level I – Activating their Emergency Plan and not just the 5 that participated in the radio roll up. Please respond to Keppie at
[email protected]. She will compile responses as part of the County’s Cascadia Rising After Action Report (AAR). To be included in the county’s AAR, the response need to be in to Keppie by June 22 or earlier. The full AAR will take some time to complete. In the meantime, each neighborhood is invited to send ONE representative to the next JPREP to hear the early recap.
Strengths 1. Potentially fourteen emergency radio operators distributed throughout the community. 2. Three HF and packet capable radio operators. 3. The Marrowstone Island Amateur Radio Club AA7MI UHF repeater dedicated to emergency communications. 4. An FRS to UHF roll up strategy and network. 5. A public familiar with isolation and the need for selfreliance. 6. A strong community identity and an active community association (Marrowstone Island Community Association). 7. A very protected harbor, multiple water landing sites and numerous boats in bays and at homes (even though a tsunami would make these “assets”potential areas of risk).
Issues requiring attention (county level) 1. Fort Flagler State Park. No plan by the county or the park for the potentially high numbers of stranded campers (up to 500) that would stress the island community’s ability to respond to their needs. 2. Isolation if bridge or causeway are not useable. No overwater strategy. 3. No clear idea of resources that would be available from the county, state or federal government to the island post disaster. Should we presume none? How do we know what we need to provide for ourselves? 4. There was no windshield survey of the island modeled for CRX as there was for the mainland. This would result in a poor level of damage/risk assessment and needs to be improved. 5. KPTZ: If it is promoted that there will be CRX announcements on the hour, those announcements should be made even if it is to say there is nothing to broadcast. People tuning in heard no CRX alerts or updates, just regular programming.
6. Since there were no sheltering strategies that came from the EOC for Marrowstone, should it be presumed the residents of Marrowstone should have their own plan, and what should that plan look like? 7. For real disaster or for exercise events, could the EOC establish scheduled neighborhood times for ham radio communications to and from each neighborhood? Example: Marrowstone on the hour. Kala Point each 15 minutes after the hour. Port Townsend each 30 minutes after the hour, and so on for other neighborhoods. a. To save battery life b. To alleviate the neighborhood reporters from having to stand by their radios. c. To reduce radio pileups.
Issues requiring attention (island level) 1. Communications improvements needed. a. More radio operators to cover the island better. (Nordland area hasn’t any dedicated individual operators). b. Not a problem during CRX, but we anticipate a need for increased battery capacity at MIARC repeater to improve operation duration. c. Limited awareness by the community of the emergency radio network. 2. Lack of a Marrowstone communitygenerated sheltering plan or ways to accommodate those stranded at Fort Flagler. 3. If not provided by the county, we need to create our own windshield survey strategy for damage/risk assessment. 4. Lack of public participation in CRX or general interest in emergency preparedness, both existing and proposed. Our outreach strategies needing improvement: a. FRS participation. b. Ongoing financial support of island preparedness efforts. Good, but could be better. c. Personal accountability for safety and preparedness. d. CERT, ACLS, CPR or other emergency training. e. Map Your Neighborhood or similar strategy for emergency networking.
