What is Resilience?
A resilient Los Altos is the ability of the city and its residents to recover quickly after a major incident such as an earthquake, fire or even terrorism. But being able to recover from a disaster starts with preparation well in advance of any disaster. Preparation at the simplest level involves planning, training and practice.
Community resilience refers to the ability of groups of people to respond to and recover from adverse situations, such as natural disasters, acts of violence, economic hardship, and other challenges to their community. In a significant emergency, traditional support structures will likely be overloaded or unavailable in the short term. Neighborhoods of Los Altos and surrounding areas need to be prepared to cope with these situations. The goal of Resilient Los Altos is to work with major stakeholders to help our residents be prepared to handle such emergencies.
There are many examples of community resilience that we have seen in action:
New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attack
Santa Clara County and the greater bay area after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989
How We Prepare
Resilient Los Altos (RLA) is dedicated to improving the resilience of the community of Los Altos, California, and adjacent areas.
Resilience requires a robust relationship of stakeholders who are ready to support the community in the event of significant need. Those stakeholders should include, but not be limited to, the Los Altos Block Action Team members, the Los Altos CERT members, Los Altos Amateur Radio Emergency Service (LAARES) members, Los Altos School District (LASD) representatives, Mountain View Los Altos High School District (MVLA) representatives, faith-based community representatives, allied health representatives and representatives from the business community.
RLA must have a robust and effective relationship with the leadership of the City of Los Altos, including both the City Council and City staff and the Santa Clara County Fire Department. The City is an essential stakeholder in this effort.
In a declared or defacto emergency, our BATs, CERTs, and hams are prepared to mobilize as trained volunteers to operate initially at the neighborhood level to assess personal injury, hazards, and building damage and to communicate that information to the City government to help focus and allocate assistance.
Currently, approximately 400 BATs, CERTs, and hams will be expected to care for people and property in their neighborhoods until assistance from city and county resources becomes available, which, according to the City’s Emergency Operating Plan, will not be available for three to seven days following an emergency.
In any continuing phase of response, RLA will be prepared to allocate its participants and their resources to assist the most seriously affected neighborhoods in Los Altos and the surrounding areas. While this level of organization reflects a significant effort over the past eight years, more needs to be done.
The current BATs, CERTs, and hams only represent a little more than 1% of the residents of Los Altos. Schools, places of worship, allied health organizations, and businesses are often poorly prepared for a serious emergency.
RLA will expand efforts to make those parts of the community resilient as well.