Looters tore through downtown Hollister in the aftermath of a
massive earthquake that rocked San Benito County Wednesday, leaving
more than 15 people dead and several buildings destroyed.
Hollister – Looters tore through downtown Hollister in the aftermath of a massive earthquake that rocked San Benito County Wednesday, leaving more than 15 people dead and several buildings destroyed.
Though major roads remained open following the quake – with the exception of Highway 156 at The Alameda in San Juan Bautista – debris choked many of the roads in downtown Hollister making them unpassable. The situation worsened when leaking gas from a wrecked tanker truck formed a toxic cloud that floated toward San Juan Bautista.
At least that was the practice scenario employees of Hollister, San Juan and the county faced during a drill aimed at training employees from multiple jurisdictions to work together in their response to a major disaster. The county tries to hold such drills every year, and coincidentally, this one came just two days after the 16th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that caused major damage in downtown Hollister in 1989.
“It went very well today,” county Emergency Services Director Margie Riopel said following the drill. “We have a lot of new people (employees), and this was their first (disaster) experience in our county. It was great.”
The two-hour drill, which was held by Riopel’s department, was intended to prepare government employees to deal with any major catastrophe. It included department heads and their support staff from both cities and the county – more than 70 people in all. Riopel said that the county tries to hold such drills annually, but it has been more than a year since the last one.
The county administration building on Fourth Street in Hollister became the command center as employees worked to asses the damage and coordinate a response to it. Among the tasks undertaken during the drill, participants set up three emergency shelters throughout the county, figured out ways to transport the injured – of which there were more than 100 – and coordinated the clearing of roads and repairing of gas leaks.
Employees participating in the drill were divided into five groups – management, operations, planning, logistics and finance – each with different jobs. The management group oversaw the whole effort; operations members took care of public safety; planning members figured out what needed to be done; logistics members figured out how to get things done; and the finance group was charged with figuring out how to pay for it all.
Paul Penn, president of EnMagine, Inc., the company that organized the drill, said the employees who participated did a good job working together and handling whatever was thrown at them.
“They didn’t get daunted by circumstances that would have overwhelmed most people,” he said. “They should be proud of themselves.”
Penn said he facilitates about 20 to 30 similar simulations per year for counties, cities and hospitals. Last week, he organized drills in Texas and Kansas.
“The more you practice, the better you’ll be in an actual event,” he said.
County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley participated in Wednesday’s drill as a member of the logistics group. One of his major tasks was rounding up handicap accessible school busses to transport the injured.
“I think it was very successful,” he said. “The participants assumed the roles and played-in with the scenario.”
The county office of education already had plans for responding to a major disaster, Foley said, so he followed those plans during the drill.
“We’ve been making plans for such contingencies for a long time,” he said. “So we knew what it would be like to respond.”
But, he added, no amount of planning can fully prepare people for the real thing.
“At least we know that in a crisis we have experience with some of the variables,” he said. “We don’t want a Katrina debacle in California, no way.”
Participant Jeff Row, battalion chief with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that, because of his job, he’s used to working with other agencies to handle disaster situations. Wednesday’s drill was important because it gave city and county employees an idea of what it’s like to work with one another, he said.
“It’s good to get people working together and able to function together,” he said.
Though she did not know exactly how much the drill was going to cost, Riopel did say that it would be paid for by a grant from the Homeland Security Department.
Though he praised those who participated in the drill, Penn said that preparation for a disaster is an ongoing and constant process.
“People always ask the silly question: Are they prepared?” he said. “They are much more prepared than most places, but not as prepared as they want to be.”
Luke Roney covers local politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com.
