TILLAMOOK, Ore. — Earlier this week Oregon’s first set of evacuation assembly point (EAP) equipment was set up and tested by the leaders from the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Office of Resilience and Emergency Management (OREM) Tillamook County, and volunteers.
Evacuation assembly points (EAPs) are short-term locations for people to gather while emergency responders work to access the impacted area. They are not intended to be long-term shelters but are places people can register, receive nourishment and short-term shelter, get essential medical care and be scheduled for transport out of the area when needed.
OREM has designed this emergency preparedness exercise to train Tillamook leaders to set up the equipment without assistance.
“Coastal communities like Tillamook are prioritized to house these supplies because data shows they are likely to be cut off from the rest of the state during the Cascadia earthquake,’ said Ed Flick, director of the ODHS Office of Resilience and Emergency Management. ‘ODHS has primary responsibility for mass care and shelter following disasters, so helping local communities access critical supplies that can quickly be used to serve their local community is important to us.”
OREM and the team had 15 tents set up in four hours. Staffers from Tillamook County, OREM staff, and volunteers spent the night in the tents. Their focus was to test the equipment. They ate a pre-packed lunch, exactly what people who use the EAPs would eat.
“The exercise proved that Tillamook is definitely getting prepared for Cascadia and other types of emergencies. It was a great exercise. It showed how the different community partners come together, work together and can accomplish tasks as a team,” said Randy Thorpe, Tillamook County Emergency Manager.