Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are living in Moda (Istanbul-Turkey) near to Yalova, Kocaeli, Adapazari earthquake region. Istanbul our city will most probably be faced with a similar earthquake. The probability of an earthquake in our region is like San Francisco's.

Our Municipality and its organic extension KASDAV (a foundation) organized several committees. One of them is The Earthquake Committee. We, as volunteers, joined this committee and are starting to form a Disaster Recovery Plan for our region Moda. The 3 Steps web content is one of our most important guides.  After reading this site we have wondered about the contents of this booklet. We named our plan as "72 hours, 3 steps". I hope we do not violate any copyrights.

Any further information will be appreciated.

•Comment:  

Thank you!  The Saturday meeting was outstanding.  We had gotten many of our people there and they were all impressed with the organization and the scope and value of what was presented.

As my husband and I left the meeting, I explained my feelings to him that even if none of this is ever used, it is love for our neighbors that is being demonstrated. There is a peace of mind that comes with preparation and I am getting so many answers to the concerns and lacking that I have had in the past.

Thank you for loving us and giving so much of yourself!

Response:  YOU'RE WELCOME!  Thanks for your kind and generous comments.

•Comment:

The link you have to www.cert.org takes people to the COMPUTER Emergency Response Team. The link should send people to this address: http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/CERT/

Also, the CERT program was developed and implemented in Los Angeles in 1985.  FEMA made it a national program in 1993.

Response:  Thanks for the information.  We'll make these corrections.

•Question: 

Why you don't emphasize Red Cross training as well as CERT and with the same zeal?  The training is less time consuming, yet provides a function of equal importance in emergency response.

•Response:  The Red Cross is very excited about the 3 Steps program, because we are mobilizing 1000's of neighborhood volunteers, who, in addtition to CERT training, can also receive cross-training with the Red Cross and be in a position to give tons of support to the Red Cross that has never been available before.  We WILL be promoting Red Cross cross-training with great fevor after the beginning of the new year.  In fact, we hope to help the Red Cross fill its Disaster 3000 Series by offering it to our people through some of our monthly Saturday meetings.  This series includes training in mass sheltering and damage assessment.

•Question:  

I understand that you are setting up a county-wide communications system that will go from the grass-roots up to the cities and to the Red Cross, and from the cities to the county, state, and FEMA.  And you are using MARA for the ham radio group who will handle the grass-roots to city communications.  Is this correct?  And who in the cities/counties is MARA going to talk to?  Is this for request for equipment? labor? During an emergency, don't you expect the city/county forces to be swamped? 

•Response:  MARA (the Mercury Amateur Radio Association) is already the official ham network used by the Red Cross.  So it will fit beautifully for us to implement MARA hams as the grassroots neighborhood links to larger MARA areas assigned within the county, and who can then communicate information provided by the grassroots to their cities as well as to the Red Cross.  It is up to each city to decide whom they will have receive this information.  Yes, in a disaster, city and county forces will be swamped within minutes.  That is why it is essential for the grassroots to prepare in advance to not only do everything they can to help themselves but to also gather and communicate information about the well-being of the people in their neighborhoods.  This will make it possible for the city to allocate its forces most appropriately and efficiently.  City emergency forces may not be able to attend to the needs of the general public for many days or even weeks, but when they finally can, grassroots information will be absolutely vital for them to know how to respond.

•Question: 

I would like to start this program in my rural Northern Alabama neighborhood of about 50 families.  My main emphasis will be for Y2K problems so time is of the essence.  Do you have a sample letter to send to the residents of a neighborhood?  Any advice on expediting the process?
Anything you can help me with is appreciated.

•Response:  50 families is a really nice size. Below is a copy of a sample letter you could use to start this program in your neighborhood.  You'll probably have to modify it since each situation is different.  If you just put out a cover letter to your neighborhood families very simply explaining the 3 steps of this program and what it can do for them and then set up a beginning group buy that you can offer them, that might be enough.  You could also send out an initial letter explaining things and asking everyone to come to a one-time meeting where you will explain how the program works.

Sample letter:

The daily news broadcasts about earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes are  real eyeopeners as to how unprepared we would be if a major disaster struck our area.  With Y2K nearly upon us and the possibility of many other emergency scenarios, a neighborhood committee is implementing a family preparedness plan for our entire neighborhood called the 3 Steps Plan. 

Briefly, the 3 Steps plan entails first, dividing the neighborhood up into geographically close groups of approximately 10 families each.  A “Captain of 10” will be called for each group to coordinate preparedness activities within the group.  Second, we will set up some group buys to help each other obtain some essential emergency supplies such as water storage, food storage, non-electric heat sources and fuel, sanitation supplies, and first aid supplies.  And third, we will help as many of you as are interested to obtain emergency rescue training.  This is more than first aid.  It includes light search and rescue, triage, simple medical treatment, simple fire suppression, and disaster psychology.

Two important concepts to understand are these:  1)  If we are ever hit by a major disaster, 911 and all city emergency response capabilities will be overwhelmed and will be unable to help us for a minimum of 3 days, and perhaps for as long as 2 weeks.  2)  Unless our neighborhood is prepared as a group, no individual family can be prepared enough.

Many neighborhoods across the country are implementing this program with the motto "Peace through Preparation".  If we work together, we can help each other be prepared and all of us can feel more secure for whatever might come our way.

•Question:  In case of electric outage, will walkie-talkies still work?

•Answer:  Yes.  Walkie-talkies work on batteries and work locally with a range of up to 2 miles.  Perfect for an electrical outage!

•Question:  First, thank you for all of your efforts in behalf of the Provo Neighborhoods. We love you.

Our experience on June 14th with the Flag Day neighborhood communications exercise was very rewarding and the families of the Oak Hills 2nd Neighborhood were very enthusiastic. We did have some concern about the assignments in the staging area. Has someone defined the duties of the example of the assignments on page 6 of the manual? The most questions were about what the supply person should be in charge of. Please let us know if there is any other information than what is in the manual.

Thank you so much for your dedicated service.

•Answer:  Click here: "What is a Staging Area?" 

In addition to what we've explained there, the supply person would be in charge of helping the people at the staging area to come up with whatever they need:  first aid supplies, food, water, ...whatever is needed for the duration of the first few hours when a rescue operation would be taking place.  In our neighborhoods, we have collected and stored and medical supplies, food, water, tarps, ropes, etc. at each staging area garage.  We can talk about this in whatever detail you need at our next Sat. meeting.