To the editor:

The letter from Bob Fortner discusses an important part of disaster preparedness here on Bainbridge Island and I applaud the effort.  However —and a big however — I think that he is overly optimistic about how long it would be necessary for the community to be on its own.

He says “up to seven days.” Considering the likelihood of very widespread and massive destruction over a widespread area following a major earthquake and with the bridge and ferries out of service indefinitely, I think it would be more reasonable to say seven weeks or more.

People should not expect that the limited emergency service resources will quickly come to Bainbridge Island. Of course the fire and police departments here will do all they can, but there is just so much they can do. The power will most certainly go out. That will mean no gas to be pumped at the two gas stations on the island (assuming they have much gas in their tanks anyway).

Pumps for wells will not function, although it is likely that in a major quake the aquifers will be disrupted and may not even have usable water available. Whatever food is at the grocery stores will quickly sell out and there will be no restocking; the trucks cannot get here even if they have inventory.

Communication will be challenging as cell towers may fall, and cable service phone modems will not work without power. Hopefully the “wire line” service from Century Link will continue (for as long as they have fuel for their generator).

Road damage may well make movement around the island difficult to impossible. And surrounding communities will be no better off. Everyone needs to understand the potential effect of a major earthquake — which of course I hope never happens.

A related concern is that a great number of people are likely not well prepared to be self-sustaining for more than a couple of days with food, water, etc. And as noted the stores will not be a resource for more.  Yes, some people are pretty well-prepared, but what happens when after a couple of days those without realize that a neighbor has food and water. They knock on the door and ask for help. The once prepared neighbor gives away much of their supplies, and then becomes like everyone else. The more that people understand the need to be truly prepared the less this will happen.

Not a pretty picture, but getting back to the beginning, seven days will be a blink of an eye in what will be a very long recovery period. As the Boy Scouts always say, “Be prepared.”

NORMAN MARTEN

Bainbridge Island