Preparedness advocates emphasize self-reliance

A grassroots movement to help individuals and families in Sisters Country be more self-reliant in the face of natural or man-made disaster is gaining traction.

Sisters Country Prepared and Ready (SCPR) started about a year ago as a group of citizens seeking to enhance preparedness in Sisters Country. With assistance from the American Red Cross and the support of public officials and private businesses, the group put on a successful preparedness fair in the Village Green last September.

Now, planning is underway for a second - and expanded - preparedness fair at Sisters Elementary School next fall.

SCPR advocates met with emergency officials and business and service group leaders last Wednesday to get things rolling for the event, which will be held September 15. The groups seeking sponsors and groups and businesses interested in setting up booths, displays and activities at the fair.

This rendition of the Sisters Preparedness Fair will include a simulated Red Cross shelter and a Red Cross blood drive as well as displays of personal emergency kits and supplies that families can lay in as preparation for emergencies.

There will also be a basic Citizen's CPR class, activities directed at kids, and presentations by emergency personnel, including experts on creating defensible space against wildfires.

Sisters-area businesses like Ray's Food Place, Bi-Mart and Les Schwab Tire Center participated in last year's fair, and they will be the focus of the next edition as well. Virtually everything needed for emergency kits and disaster-preparedness supplies are available in Sisters.

"We'd like to steer the business to local retailers and stores," said SCPR leader Bill Rainey. "We can get our citizens prepared and help our local businesses."

Jerry Marshall, manager of Sisters Bi-Mart, told the assemblage that he found last year's fair worthwhile. Bi-Mart and Ray's both created displays featuring items needed for emergency kits to make it convenient for shoppers to find what they need.

Preparedness has value for any individual or family. As SCPR member Jack McGowan explained, in any emergency - from flood to fire to civil unrest or a major earthquake - the more people who are prepared to shelter in place, the less the demand for emergency services, which will already be stretched to the limit.

"The concept is: Help yourself, help your neighbors. Be prepared."

Sisters Country is vulnerable to wildfire and severe winter storms that can cut power and isolate people in their homes. The most extreme scenario is a major earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone, where the small Juan de Fuca Plate that abuts the North American continent is sliding under that continental plate.

Sometime in a window of 250 to 350 years, the plates under tension along the northwest coast will slip, producing a massive earthquake. The last time it happened was on January 26, 1700. So, we're currently within the window of another major subduction zone quake.

Such a quake would resemble the massive quake that rocked Japan in March 2011.

While Central Oregon would probably not face severe damage directly from the quake, the Oregon Coast and the Willamette Valley could well be devastated.

That would cause a significant disruption of services - from electrical power to food and fuel deliveries - to Central Oregon.

"What we're concerned about here is the disruption of all the services we've come to rely on," said McGowan. "Central Oregon will be cut off for days. We'll rely on ourselves."

For information on sponsorships or booth sign-ups, call 541-549-1971.