S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2016
5
Drill was organized regionally
CASCADIA continued
from front page
levels throughout Oregon, Wash-
ington and Idaho. For the irst time
ever, all nine federally recognized
Tribes in Oregon participated.
Jamie Baxter, the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde’s Emergency
Operations coordinator, reported
that at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 7, a
9.0 magnitude earthquake shook
the coast for more than ive min-
utes and created a 600-mile long
rupture from northern California
to southern British Columbia along
the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The
quake triggered a coast-wide tsuna-
mi estimated to be between 30- and
50-feet high and it was reported to
have hit Astoria at 9:10 a.m.
The doomsday drill was orga-
nized regionally by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
Federal oficials said as many as
20,000 people would be participat-
ing in the exercise, which is the
largest of its kind ever held.
Tribal employees in Grand Ronde
kicked off the exercise on Tuesday
when they stopped, dropped and
covered under their desks collec-
tively at 1 p.m. Supervisors made
the employee drill mandatory.
“Cascadia Rising is an important
emergency planning exercise in
which the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde will play a key, lead-
ing role with the state of Oregon,”
said Tribal General Manager Dave
Fullerton in an all employee e-mail.
“The other eight Oregon Tribes will
also for the irst time all participate.”
Fullerton said that the exercise
involved practicing the treatment
of and evacuation of critically
injured and deceased victims. He
said he expected all employees to
participate along with key staff
members because it is important
to be prepared.
“Please be safe and help your
Tribal government plan for a real
catastrophe so when it does hap-
pen we are better prepared,” said
Fullerton.
On Wednesday, Tribal staff prac-
ticed working with Tribal emergen-
cy communications, such as satellite
phones and ham radios, so Grand
Ronde can communicate with out-
side areas in such a situation.
Tribal Chairman Reyn Leno wel-
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Amanda Walker, left, Tribal certiied medical assistant, bandages a moulage
leg wound on Emily Reynolds in the treatment area of the Cascadia Rising
mass casualty exercise held on the Tribal campus on Thursday, June 9.
comed more than 200 people to the
Tribal Community Center in Grand
Ronde on Thursday, June 9, for the
mock disaster scenario.
“I’ve been asked to welcome
everybody and acknowledge ev-
erybody that prepared for this,”
said Leno to an audience of Tribal
members, Tribal Elders, staff,
irst responders from many local
agencies and Tribal and commu-
nity members dressed as injured
victims. “I would just like to thank
everybody because this is a great
thing for the Tribe. Preparing for an
emergency is a big thing. You don’t
really know what’s going to happen
in an emergency. I believe that is
what this type of training will do.”
Leno introduced Baxter, who or-
ganized and coordinated the event
in Grand Ronde.
“I’d like to acknowledge Jamie,”
said Leno. “We had an emergency
plan, but we decided to take the
next step and hired Jamie on. She’s
done an outstanding job. She’s a
real go-getter. She’s been great.”
Baxter then took the microphone
and took charge of the day at the
same time.
Lily Baker gets blood paste applied to her face to simulate a cut by moulage
artist Kathy Worthing in preparation for the Cascadia Rising mass casualty
exercise held on the Tribal campus on Thursday, June 9.
“Our goal here is for everybody
to have a good time and learn, and
that we develop our skills,” said
Baxter.
Baxter, who has worked for the
Tribe since 2014 and whose last day
was Friday, June 10, laid out the
disaster scenario for those involved.
She explained it was currently
Day Three following the Cascadia
earthquake.
“Teams have been working for
two days and a new set of volun-
teers is arriving,” said Baxter.
“Medical is inally coming in to ly
out some of the most severely in-
jured. Communications have been
down, but our satellite system has
allowed us to pull a newscast up
that lets us know what’s been going
on. What we are showing you here
is a snapshot of a response.”
The report said there had been
“massive devastation along the
Northwest coast. We have wit-
nessed massive damage to critical
infrastructure. We’ve seen flood
waters rising, buildings being col-
lapsed and heard reports of massive
power outages.”
Baxter introduced Andrew
Phelps, director of the Oregon
Ofice of Emergency Management,
who described the Tribal turnout
as “unbelievable.”
“This is fantastic looking around
and seeing everybody that’s partici-
pating in this exercise,” said Phelps.
“It’s important to communicate
that every citizen has a role to play
when there is a disaster. This is
what communities should be doing.
This is what community emergency
response should look like.”
Phelps said he is happy to work
with the Tribes on this type of
event.
“Being able to work with the
Tribes and augment the structure
that they have in place I think is
part of an overall strategy ensuring
help gets where it needs to go in a
timely manner regardless of what
the disaster is,” said Phelps. “Our
goal for this exercise is twofold.
One is to stress and evaluate the
systems that we have in place to
coordinate life-saving, life-sustain-
ing efforts after a disaster and also
to reinforce to the community that
while we are doing all we can to
prepare for this, it’s up to individ-
uals and families to make sure that
they are doing their part to prepare
for whatever disaster may come.”
Baxter said the exercise helps
people understand how to prepare
and what the scene will look like
in the event something like a Cas-
cadia Subduction Zone earthquake
does occur off the Oregon Coast.
According to the Paciic North-
west Seismic Network, the last
Cascadia Subduction Zone me-
ga-quake occurred in January 1700.
Geological history says that seven
such earthquakes have occurred in
the last 3,500 years.
“This provides a snapshot for the
community on what could happen
during a large earthquake,” said Bax-
ter. “It gives our whole community
a chance to practice together, meet
each other and learn to work together
before an event. We’ve been working
on a plan for over a year now. We’re
trying to think full community.”
In preparing for the exercise, the
Tribe worked with the West Val-
ley Fire District, Yamhill County
Public Health Department, the
city of Willamina, the McMinnville
Amateur Radio Club, West Valley
Hospital, the Grand Ronde Church
of the Nazarene and the American
Red Cross, among many others.
Tribal leadership felt the exercise
was important for the community.
Participants ranged from Tribal
Elders, such as Kathryn Harrison
and Gladys Hobbs, to Tribal chil-
dren who enjoyed being made up
as earthquake victims.
The event also saw participation
from many Tribal departments.
Health & Wellness Center doc-
tors triaged victims while Tribal
Building Oficial Alton Butler as-
sessed damage to Tribal buildings,
tagging those that were no longer
inhabitable.
Tribal Council members learned
how to declare an emergency and
request additional state and federal
aid in such a dire circumstance.
“I think it’s critical for the rural
areas to realistically pinpoint these
places where people can actually go
because they say your bigger popula-
tion areas could be your bigger prob-
lems,” said Tribal Council Chairman
Reyn Leno. “You need a place to start
and that’s what I view Grand Ronde
will be. It’ll be a starting point for this
community anyway.”
Tribal Council member Chris
Mercier said he was pleased to see
so many irst responder organiza-
tions present for the exercise.
“From the leadership perspective it
was good to see that we have these
relationships with all these other
entities,” said Mercier. “It’s good to
know that we have these people that
we can turn to and that they can turn
to us in the event that something like
an earthquake or a tsunami.
“It just shows the community is
organized and can handle these
kinds of events and it’s good to
know that. It’s good to have an idea
See CASCADIA
continued on page 22