PublicAlerts.org - Preparedness Information specific to the Portland & Vancouver area.
PublicAlerts.org is a fantastic website and resource for anyone who is interested in learning how to become better prepared in the Portland & Vancouver area. This site is maintained by the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization which spans the Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, and Washington counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.
In doing my research for designing an escape room that teaches emergency preparedness, I visited many emergency preparedness sites and found them to be overwhelming because they were trying to inform everyone about everything everywhere. Often times I felt myself getting overwhelmed as I had to filter through information that was not relevant to the region I call home. I also found conflicting information as many recommendations were general and did not take into account the worst-case scenario for the Pacific Northwest, a Cascadia Subduction Zone event. The commonly repeated recommendation of 72 hours of water and supplies may be fine for other parts of the country but here, in the Pacific Northwest, we want to prepare for being without services for at least 2 weeks.
PublicAlerts.org is clean, intuitive, well-organized, and specific to preparing here in the Pacific Northwest. In a brilliant design choice, the site designers don’t immediately bombard you with pages and pages of scrolling text but if you start to explore the site, even for a moment, you’ll quickly realize that you can easily click through the site and find a depth of excellent and digestible information specific to your interest.
I’d encourage you to spend 15 minutes clicking around and seeing what you find, and then take these 4 steps:
Sign up for the PublicAlerts notification system, which will alert you to hazardous situations near you.
Use the search function on the Hazards Page to get familiar with the most likely hazards in areas where you live, work, and play.
Explore the Get Ready page and learn what else you can do to be more prepared.
Learn more about Getting Involved in your local community.
