Preparing for Natural Disasters in Downtown Port Townsend
Brainstorming:
After listening to all of our guest speakers, reading a lot of books, watching movies, doing research and going on field trips, We agreed that our motto is:
We cannot prevent it (the tsunamis) but we can prepare for it.
So, we decided to focus on things we can do to prepare for natural disasters in our downtown district, in the City of Port Townsend:
We decided to focus on 6 things we can do to help the downtown district prepare:
- Nathaniel Ashford – learn seismology so that we can better prepare our buildings for it using nanotechnology.
- Ella Ashford – new methods of emergency communication of seismic events through radio and phone apps.
- Sophia – designing engaging ways to get people to go to high ground after an earthquake, if they are in the downtown area.
- Jack – innovative ways to get clean water using household items.
- Max – Prepare for natural disasters with adequate food
- Olivia – Prepare for natural disasters with adequate medicine.
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TEAM
TANDA
Hello Tanda,I have a few Questions for you.
- Do you have a map that shows shelters in the area available to the public. If you do can the club get their hands on one.
No, we do not have a map of shelters. We work closely with the American Red Cross on type and location of shelter(s) as the emergency need arises. However, there are far too many variable like the type and duration of the emergency that would drive a shelter location and make mapping ineffective. Jefferson County residences need to pay close attention to alerts and notifications as we release them to the public.
What makes the tsunami sirens go off.
Our tsunami warning comes from the National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska. Our office in Port Townsend or the State Emergency Office actually pushes the button to set off the siren.
Does the early warning messages come from NOAA in Seattle?
NOAA provides us with early warning for severe weather (not tsunami)Can you communicate by radio Admiralty Apartments?Admiralty Apartments on Taylor St. can join one of our radio groups and participate in our weekly emergency radio call-in (Wednesday mornings). We would not provide them with radios but encourage citizens to get as active as they can with personal radios (walkie-talkie) to talk to their neighbors within Admiralty Apartments and/or join a HAM radio group and join our emergency radio call-ins.
Why does Jefferson county not have a sizemograph?
No, Jefferson County does not have a seismograph. A seismograph has to be operated by an expert seismographer. These expert reside elsewhere and provide information to more than just Jefferson County. Below is a hyperlink to a reliable seismic information source in case you want more information: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/shakemap/
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Early Warning Systems
By Ella Ashford
I am researching about early warning system.
In the olden days, the Hoh tribe believed that when bears howled unseasonal that meant that an earthquake was coming. Could it be that the bears where sensing the P waves?
Now we have more accurate methods of measuring P waves.
I have found some of those methods by reading the Jefferson County EOC website (Emergency Operation Center). I looked up early warning programs that were available to the public. I found that there are warnings for text, email, radio, walki talki, ham radio, weather radio, sirens, apps, and sometimes door to door alert (but that is very rare).
We signed up for almost all of them.
But Jefferson County does not have a P wave sensor. All of our information comes from the National Tsunami Warning Center in Chignik Alaska 1,589 miles away! The EOC ensures us that the system will be early in the case of the Cascadia Fault, we would have about 60-90 minutes before the Tsunami hits Port Townsend. But if the Whidbey Island fault went off we would only have 3-5 minutes to get to high ground and there would be no time for the sirens to go off.
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Water Still Project
Jack Gibbons
In the event of a natural disaster, clean drinking water will be in short supply. I have been working on a way to distill water using easily-accessible items. With it you can make potable drinking water out of fresh water or salt water.
I made the distillation machine using:
- One cooking pot (about 2 quarts with a hole in its tight-fitting lid)
- One 4-foot length of 1/4-inch copper tubing
- One sheet of aluminum foil.
- One normal bottle (to collect the water).
To assemble the water distiller, place the pot on your heat source (I used a wood stove). Then seal one end of the copper tubing around the hole in the lid using some aluminum foil. Bend the tube until it curves down to the bottle on the floor. Make sure that all the tubing angles downward except for when it comes out of the pot. Finally fill the pot with water and get it to boiling temperature and wait!
With this device I can get 8 ounces in 12 hours.
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How to be Prepared with Medicine and First-aid Supplies for a Tsunami or Earthquake
By Olivia Morningstar
In a tsunami or earthquake you will need basic supplies like food, medicine and water. In an earthquake the biggest danger is things falling and crushing or injuring you. According to the Center for Disease Control, here is a list of medicines and first-aid supplies you may want to keep on hand: hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, alcohol swabs, aspirin and non-aspirin, diarrhea medicine, eye drops, bandage strips, ace bandages, gauze, Q-tips, adhesive tape roll, thermometer, splinting materials, and prescription medicines if you take them, such as inhalers for asthma. In a tsunami the biggest danger is drowning. Another danger is a lack of clean water. According to the CDC you will also need things for purifying water like waterproof matches and a cooking pot.
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