Situational awareness required: Trainings help prep for two weeks after disaster

##Jayne Wolf

“Where are the emergency exits?” Jayne Wolf asked attendees of a Be 2 Weeks Ready training on Friday, March 20, at Chemeketa Community College Yamhill Valley Campus.

Where are the fire extinguishers? … the AED, or automated external defibrillator? … she continued, stressing that situational awareness is key when any kind of disaster strikes.

“You’re going into Costco and the shaking starts, I’m hoping to be back where the mattresses are,” she said. “Against the wall or near the exit is where things are going to fall. No matter where you are, don’t just look around — look up.”

She pointed to the ceiling in the middle of the classroom where a projector hung.

“I wouldn’t want to be sitting under that thing,” in case of a quake, she said, pointing out the unlucky participant sitting below the projector.

Situational awareness has saved many people. Wolf shared the story of Tilly Smith, a 10-year-old British girl who was vacationing in 2024 with her family at the Mai Khao Beach resort in Phuket, Thailand, when she recognized signs of a tsunami.

She was insistent they needed to leave, but her parents didn’t believe her. Her father begrudgingly took her to the hotel reception area.

“And her father was like, ‘Well my daughter seems to think there’s a tsunami that’s going to happen and I just thought I’d mentioned it,’” Wolf told the class. “It just so happened there was a Japanese tourist standing by and heard the word tsunami.”

He confirmed that an earthquake had occurred in Indonesia and immediately the hotel issued a tsunami warning.

“She ended up saving 100 people on the beach that day as they evacuated people to higher ground,” Wolf said. “And so, you never know. Education starts at a young age, and I give her credit for really sticking to her guns and not just listening to her parents this time.”

To begin the training, Wolf handed every person a roadmap of Yamhill County.

“If a Cascadia event takes place, you will be on foot,” Wolf said, instructing attendees to have an evacuation route in place, especially when traveling. “Pay attention to what bridges you crossed, because you won’t be crossing back the same way.”

When traveling, exit routes should be known as well.

Similarly, Wolf encouraged attendees to bring the knowledge they learned from the course into their daily lives.

Wolf is the county’s coordinator for the B2WR program, which was created by Oregon Emergency Management in 2024. The agency has a comprehensive online tool kit on its website in multiple languages.

The in-person courses, similar to the toolkit, focus on surviving two weeks following a disaster and include planning information for food, water, waste and hygiene, finding shelter and first aid.

“There are eight modules to the toolkit, each focusing on an aspect of individual preparedness,” Wolf said. “After each module, there are several activities that you can do at home. Each module takes no more than 45 minutes to one hour to teach.”

Getting started can be as simple as having first aid bags in the car and home, she said.

Since western Oregon is in the Cascadia subduction zone, everyone should have a bedside kit, she advised, including hard sole shoes, bottled water, dust mask and leather gloves.

Wolf said when the shaking is over, nothing will be where it originally was and broken glass could be in the room. After shoes and gloves are on, house fires should be extinguished, if necessary.

Bring the extinguisher with you, then check on your neighbors.

The final portion of the course is emergency management, which includes coordinating with neighbors and other members of the community.

Wolf said she has a plan with neighbors that includes two places everyone will meet.

As a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, Wolf is part of the professional responders that are activated during a disaster situation. CERT members are trained in basic disaster response skills, such as disaster medical operations, disaster psychology, fire safety and light search and rescue.

There are over 50 active CERT programs in Oregon, including Yamhill County.

“Additional classes may be scheduled to suit the needs of the organization, neighborhood, or community,” Wolf told the News-Register. “I can break it into several sessions, day or night, although I have more availability during the day. All I need is an indoor space to present, a screen/outlet for my PowerPoint slides, and at least eight people attending.”

For more information on preparedness or training, email Wolf at wolfj@yamhillcounty.gov.