Cottonwood Heights makes sure of its disaster preparations

  • 2016-04-23
Cottonwood Heights government officials and emergency personnel worked with residents on Saturday, April 16, in a large-scale disaster drill.

Known as the ‘ShakeOut’, it was designed to help both residents and emergency responders cope in the event of a natural disaster.

Hundreds of volunteers were used to man three separate posts: a reception center, an emergency center, and a mobile command post. At the reception center, which also had a radio, residents gathered to hear the latest information. This site would also be used to house pets that became lost in a real disaster.

The emergency center would serve as shelter for those who lost their homes, and the command post would handle all radio communications.

The city has also designated Block Captains, each of whom is tasked with distributing colored ribbons to 10 or 15 houses on their block. In the event of an emergency, the homeowner would display a green ribbon meaning everything is all right, a yellow indicating a problem, a red ribbon indicating serious difficulty, and a black ribbon indicating a fatality. The Block Captains would survey their houses, then report their findings to the mobile command post.

City officials might like to build on this drill by working with a postcard printing company on a mailer for residents describing the posts and the color-coded ribbon system.