On Saturday, March 5, Sheriff W.L. Benedict presented Washington State Emergency Worker Jim Buck with a Commendation Award for his extraordinary efforts in preparing Clallam County for a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake event. Buck prepared the Joyce community with education and assistance to feed and shelter that community. He provided a variety of equipment, resources and trained personnel to assist one another during any prolonged emergency.
The shipping container, food supplies and recipes to prepare a large feeding effort are a legacy resource for Joyce. His efforts have enabled a whole community to survive an extended power outage and severe weather in addition to an earthquake event.
Buck’s leadership and analysis of the “island concept” as a response effort for the county is novel and unprecedented in the western counties of Washington. It is now possible to fold all previous efforts into organized command areas that can independently serve each isolated community. His willingness to work with the Washington National Guard and provide “institutional knowledge” to them enabling them to better serve West End needs in an emergency is much appreciated.
Buck presentation at West End Business meeting
On Wednesday, March 16, Jim Buck gave his Cascadia Earthquake presentation to the members of WEBPA.
Some of the high points of the presentation were:
Cascadia 9.2 Earthquake effects predicted
Rupture will be 600 miles
Width 50 miles
Duration of the shaking will be 6.5 minutes
Some of the problems resulting from the quake:
48 percent of police facilities will be unusable
No firefighting west of Shelton
50 percent of coastal bridges will be damaged and unusable
No cellphones, landline phones, Internet, radio, TV for months
Most schools won’t survive
Most hospitals will have full or partial evacuation
Take a year to restore electricity, water, sewer
Most airport structures west of I-5 will suffer severe damage (runway at Quillayute may survive)
Electric grid will be out from Canada to Mexico to Montana
Citizens should be ready for 30 days without any help
Buck is scheduled to present his program again in Forks on June 1, at the Forks Chamber of Commerce meeting at Blakeslee’s Bar and Grill at noon. The public is welcome to attend.
