Federal Emergency Management Agency

How would the Quinault Indian Nation respond to a major tsunami that devastated Washington’s coastal communities and prevented outside help from getting to the tribe immediately?

This week the tribe hosted a tabletop exercise — collaborating with personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Washington Emergency Management Division (EMD) and Grays Harbor County — to explore how it would put its emergency plan into action to save lives and protect property, and discuss the process for getting help from FEMA and other partners.

A tabletop exercise involves key personnel discussing simulated scenarios. Exercise participants look at the issues in dept-hand develop decisions through problem-solving discussions, rather than through the fast-paced, spontaneous decision-making that is necessary during actual emergency conditions. In this case, the scenario was a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Alaska that left the tribe about three hours to prepare before a series of tsunami waves roared ashore.

Wednesday’s 4-hour exercise was preceded on Tuesday by a presentation on the tribe’s history, an overview of the tsunami warning system from EMD, and a presentation from FEMA about the process for requesting a major disaster declaration.

In all, more than three-dozen emergency management personnel from all levels of government participated in the two-day event.

More information about disaster preparedness is available at www.ready.govor www.fema.gov.