KAROECHO Disaster Communications Plan

KE Disaster Communications Plan 01/13/2025

0

Slides Released 01/13/2025

El Cerrito-Kensington�Community Communications Hub Teams�WHO WHERE HOW

Unit 9: Communications

El Cerrito-Kensington EmComm Plan

Slides Released 01/13/2025

NERT- CERT- Comm Hub -�NVDT - ZONE – AREA – DISTRICT You Name it

The names may change but KAROECHO is dedicated to connecting the community with disaster resources both human and material whatever the names may be such as: Neighborhood Volunteer Disaster Team (NVDT), District Communications Hub (DCH), CERG (Community Emergency Response Group), NERG (neighborhood Emergency Response Group, VDRT (Volunteer Disaster Response Teams), DDRT (District Disaster Response Team) or the like.

Mission Statement: Community EmComm Hub

• Personal safety is ALWAYS the number one priority
• Work as a team

Mission Statement: To provide skilled radio operators who can deliver reliable and effective radio communications for the El Cerrito and Kensington communities.

Approved by the general membership, September 2017

• The CERT goal is to do the
• Greatest Good for the Greatest Number
• Hope for the best but plan for the worst

EC/KEN EmComm Hubs

Visual 9.3

Power Grid, Landlines, Cell Phones & Internet

• WHY
• We use these every day but we can’t count on them after a disaster
• After a disaster these may be out for days, weeks or even months!

​

El Cerrito- Ken Comm Hubs

Visual 9.4

Neighborhood Communications

• Name 5 Disaster Preparedness Organizations in El Cerrito or Kensington
• Why is Disaster Planning and Training essential in order to save lives and protect property?
• Why is EmComm Essential?
• A model plan versus chaos: Why are we modeling Best Practices while allowing in the plan for innovation? It’s not an either/or proposition.
• Why a Written Disaster Operations Plan?

​

Served agencies need to know who we are and how we work. New members need to know how they fit in organizationally and what might be expected of them during a disaster. The KE Disaster Operations Plan lists the services that KaroEcho could provide to clients/organizations, as well it provides the blueprints for training topics

​

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.5

NERT Neighborhood Data Transfer

• What is expected to be communicated by members?
• Immediate – Big picture: life safety, fire, collapse, etc.
• Soon after –
• Damage assessments
• Medical requirements
• Staffing requirements
• Emergency announcements
• Water, power and communications utility status
• Mutual aid between Zones and agencies
• Evacuation Notifications
• For How Long and Where?

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.6

Some Basic Terms We Use

Some of the terms we use may not be familiar to you

• EOC – Emergency Operation Center
• HAM – Licensed Amateur Radio Operator
• FCC – Federal Communications Commission
• AM – Amplitude Modulation –
• FM – Frequency Modulation -
• VHF / UHF – Very High Frequency / Ultra High Freq
• See the Annotated Glossary

EC/KEN COMM HUBS

Visual 9.7

Basic NERT/CERT Disaster Comms

EC/KEN Comm Hub

Visual 9.8

HAM TEAM

NERT

Team

HAM NET

Incident Command

EOC

Sample Disaster Communications Plan

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.9

Captains / CERT Teams

EOC

Neighborhood Homes

Neighborhood Homes

Citizens

Professionals

Captains / CERT Teams

Hams

County Dispatch

Law

Enforcement

Fire &

Rescue

Medical

& Relief

GMRS

repeater

GMRS

repeater

The KE SOG and Relevant LINKS

• The KAROECHO SOG (Standard Operating Guide) is an abbreviated summary of the KE Disaster Communicatins Plan used for introductory purposes
• Link to the KAROECHO Disaster Comm Plan
• This POWER POINT Document
• https://www.karoecho.net/documents
• Emergency Communications Field Operations Manual & Handbook (Karo-Echo) (Rev 04/2020)
• A extended annotated Glossary & Acronym List (EmComm_Glossary_Acronyms)

​

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.10

Training in Best Practices: Radio Procedure

​

• Remember the radio ABCs
• Accuracy
• Brevity
• Clarity
• Think about what you will say before getting on the air
• Use phonetic alphabet for spelling out words
• Say “FIGURES” and follow with individual numerals
• “FIGURES WUN, NINER, AIT, FOWER”
• not “nineteen eighty-four” etc.

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.11

Why Advanced Training: Nets and Net Control

• Seamless Universal Interoperability

​

• Net Control Operator
• Radio “traffic cop”
• Coordinates radio traffic
• Duties:
• Direct you to call
• Direct you to stand by
• Prioritize calls based on nature of message
• Direct you to a different channel

​

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.12

Proficiency in Obtaining Fills, Sending, & Pro-Words

• To make communications more clearly understood, use “Pro-Words” (Procedure Words) that are universally understood by radio communicators:
• ​
• ALL BEFORE/ALL AFTER -- ALL BETWEEN -- Word AFTER – WORD BEFORE -- AFFIRMATIVE -- CONFIRM -- NEGATIVE -- AFFIRMATIVE -- ROGER -- INITIALS -- NUMERALS -- LETTER GROUP – MIXED GROUP -- OVER -- I SPELL -- I SAY AGAIN – PRECEDENCE – PRIORITY -- ROUTINE -- BREAK -- WORD COUNT/CHECK -- (Your station ID) CLEAR -- (NO) MORE -- MORE FOLLOWS
• Refer to Your Field Operations Guide (FOG)

​

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.13

Some Tips: Unit Summary

• Conventional methods of communication may not be available but radio is always available
• If you want to help learn your radios and antennas
• Learn the KE Modified 213 Form
• Study the ARES Self Evaluation Task Book Check-List
• Learn how to change frequencies, simplex, & repeaters
• Listen first, then speak clearly, calmly, carefully without using a lot of words
• Use plain English when possible
• Let go of your PTT button to listen frequently

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.14

Questions ?

EC/KEN Comm Hubs

Visual 9.15