Lessons learned in earthquake drill surprise leaders

07 Jan 2018

By: Wayne McFarlin, Emergency Preparedness Administrator

 

A tabletop exercise of a major earthquake scenario on Dec. 11 surprised many of the 25 leader participants – which is good news, since it led to improvements. All leaders should know the information contained in the attached after action report so they can prepare their areas of responsibility for such an event.

Highlights of the exercise:

• The long-term loss of the city’s water supply, considered likely for such an event, creates an immediate need to evacuate the hospital, yet the regional devastation will prevent evacuation from occurring for days to weeks. 

• Salem Hospital can produce about 6,000 gallons of emergency water a day, but typically uses 160,000 gallons.  Normally water is used as follows:
  • 42 percent sanitary — Sterile Processing alone uses 20,000 gallons/day. Without water, significant infection prevention concerns exist.
  • 23 percent HVAC — Without water there will be no heating or cooling.
  • 14 percent medical processes, nine percent cafeteria or food service, five percent laundry, and seven percent miscellaneous.
• Due to the overwhelming number of injuries, altered standards of patient care must be used. The hospital is considering adopting the Oregon Crisis Care Guidelines to address this disaster patient care concern.
• Staff who prepare their families for a disaster are more likely to be here; those who haven’t, likely won’t.