At 10 a.m. Wednesday, it may have seemed as though a 6.7
magnitude earthquake rolled quietly through a conference room at
the Hollister Police Department.
At 10 a.m. Wednesday, it may have seemed as though a 6.7 magnitude earthquake rolled quietly through a conference room at the Hollister Police Department.
Had it been real, it would have been the largest to hit San Benito County since the 7.0 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.
More than 100 local government employees, wearing colored vests that divided them into five teams, began an emergency response to the simulated trembler.
Paul Penn, of EnMagine Inc., conducted the training sessions. Penn ran San Benito County’s Office of Emergency Services from 1985 until 1988.
The county brings Penn in every two years to help local government officials stay prepared for a large-scale disaster such as an earthquake.
“These are what we call low-frequency, high-consequence events,” Penn said.
Brian Tempero, who heads the county’s Office of Emergency Services, said the Wednesday training session was the debut for using the Amateur Radio Disaster Services. Tempero said the group was used during the Loma Prieta earthquake and Hurricane Katrina for communicating emergency response information.
“It’s a group that’s vital to emergency operations,” Tempero said.
The radios run on a 13.8-volt battery, Tempero said.
Attendees spent Tuesday afternoon in an overview of the county’s emergency response plan.
As Wednesday morning progressed, employees from San Benito County and the City of Hollister were given information about emergencies throughout the county.
There was an explosion at a local manufacturing plant. A truck rolled over on Highway 156. The earthquake caused a spill at Hollister’s wastewater treatment plant. Several public buildings had to be evacuated. San Juan Bautista was ablaze.
It all happened within two hours, and local government employees worked through their simulated emergency responses.
The county’s emergency response plan covered disasters and hazards other than earthquakes, such as floods, fires and terrorist attacks, Tempero said.
