The Unthinkable Disaster Occurred!

Click to see a video excerpt from the show Emergency Preparedness: Creating a Master Plan

Would you believe that I just did a show talking about East Palo Alto's Master Emergency Disaster Plan? On the show, I talked with several people who are involved with the creation and the execution of the plan.  I asked them to give several examples of the type of disasters the plan covered and to discuss what would happen if a disaster struck East Palo Alto today. Ryan Zollicoffer, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District's Emergency Services Coordinator, who was one of my guests on the show mentioned that a plane crash was a good example of a man-made disaster. My other guest Captain John Chalmers said that while the master plan has not been approved yet, the City of East Palo Alto had a plan in place if a disaster struck East Palo Alto.

Well, a disaster actually occurred! A plane crashed in East Palo Alto this week -- two weeks after we taped the show and three days after the show stopped airing. In my last blog, I wrote about the possibility of an earthquake striking urban centers of this country. Well, since that writing an earthquake struck on February 10, in what many would consider an unlikely place, a Chicago, Illinois suburb.

Hypothetical situations no longer trump the reality. Let no one doubt that what we only talk about can become the new reality and reality packs a more powerful, emotional and physical punch than any fiction can. Again, it's no longer "if," it's a matter of "when" and that, I have to admit, can seem just a little scary, especially since the "when" actually arrives as a real disaster. But at least we have some idea of what can happen and we know it's not fictional.

Many condolences to the families of the victims of the plane crash, to all of the East Palo Alto residents whose lives were turned upside down by the crash and to all, inside and outside of East Palo Alto, who are still reeling from what happened.

It's time we begin to calm whatever fears we might have about the unexpected and get involved in an emergency planning process on a personal level and on a citywide level. The unthinkable disaster can and does occur.

To hear an audio of the plane crash from the East Palo Alto Police Department's ShotSpotter recording, click here.  For more information, go to www.epatoday.org, the website for the East Palo Alto Today newspaper.