Washington County Emergency Management will lead a major earthquake scenario from June 12th - 14th as part of a disaster response and recovery exercise to test a multiagency response to a major earthquake. Referred to as “Shake It Off,” this exercise will involve 16 different organizations, including Washington County, several cities, special districts, community organizations and private-sector partners such as healthcare providers and technology companies.

The Shake It Off exercise will simulate response and recovery operations prompted by a high magnitude earthquake, such as the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck near the Turkey and Syrian border in February this year. This exercise is a continuation of the 2016 full-scale exercise Cascadia Rising, which involved practicing the first four days of response to a catastrophic earthquake.

These exercise participants will test their plans and procedures for quickly coordinating multi-agency response and recovery operations throughout Washington County, Oregon.

Areas of focus include testing communication plans, emergency operations center (EOC) functions, opening emergency shelter locations and providing staffing, food and other resources to displaced community members.

“Putting into practice our emergency response planning will test how we coordinate with our city, district, regional and community partners and identify our strengths and weaknesses when the ‘big one’ strikes in our region,” said John Wheeler, director of the Emergency Management Cooperative of Washington County. “How quickly and efficiently we respond to a major earthquake will be critical in providing care and resources to our community.”

Washington County will lead the exercise starting with the setup and activation of its emergency operations center (EOC) on June 12th.

Communication drills, shelter siting, and resource request processes will be the focus of exercise play on June 13th.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

On June 14th Washington County will also partner with the American Red Cross Northwest Oregon Chapter, Centro Cultural of Washington County, Citizen Emergency Response Teams and others to establish a mock emergency shelter at the Tualatin Hills Athletic Center in Beaverton (50 NW 158th Ave., Beaverton, OR 97006) in a small area of the basketball courts. This portion of the exercise will begin with a building inspection and assessment of potential structural damage.

Other anticipated activities of participating agencies and organizations in this exercise include:

City Governments

• City of Beaverton will test their communication plans on June 13th and send Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers to support the simulated shelter activities on June 14th.
• City of Hillsboro will activate its emergency operations center and practice damage assessment procedures, resource request processes and fuel and donation management.
• City of Sherwood will conduct a tabletop exercise for its emergency operations center team.
• City of Tigard will activate its operations center, use volunteer amateur radio operators to communicate and conduct damage assessment procedures and send Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers to support the simulated shelter activities on June 14th.

Fire Districts

• Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue will activate its fire operations center and practice its disaster communications procedures and systems.

Hospitals and Emergency Medical Services

• Hillsboro Medical Center and Providence St. Vincent Medical Center will participate in the communications drill.

Other agencies, community organizations and private-sector partners

• American Red Cross will send a liaison to the County EOC on June 13th to support shelter siting and resourcing and support the activation of a shelter on June 14th.
• Clean Water Services will refamiliarize staff with Incident Command System (ICS) principles and elements of EOC operations and test emergency communications procedures and equipment.
• Metro will conduct a series of tabletop exercise for its emergency operations center team.
• Washington County Consolidated Communications Agency (WCCCA) will exercise its backup communications and employee notification systems.
• Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District will host the shelter simulation along with testing their emergency operations center and resource request processes.
• Tualatin Valley Water District will participate in the communications drill.
• Centro Cultural will support the shelter activation on the 14th.
• Intel Corp. will participate in the communications drill.

More information about preparing for earthquakes and other natural disasters can be found at these web sites:

• Washington County Oregon Emergency Management
• Washington County Emergency Management Cooperative
• Take 5 to Survive
• Oregon Department of Emergency Management
• Public Alerts
• Ready

--Ben Fisher

Post Date: 2023-06-10 09:10:13

Last Update: 2023-06-10 10:35:49