A message from West Jordan’s Emergency Manager

Years ago, while in the Air Force, the aircrew I was on was flying missions in Afghanistan, down in the southern part of the country where there was heavy fighting. One of our missions was to support troops on the ground. When they made contact with enemy forces, we called it a TIC or Troops in Contact.

During our mission, we were called on to support a TIC. A short time later, we were directed to support an additional TIC. Two at the same time. This had never happened before. Our crew did great, and we were able to send a lot of Soldiers home that night. It was pretty special to our crew. We even had a patch made that we proudly wore, it simply said, “Two TICs at the Same Time”.

Maybe because September is National Preparedness Month, that has been running through my head as I remember the morning of March 18, 2020, when a small 5.7 magnitude Earthquake (sorry, I’m originally from California) rolled through the valley, centered in Magna.

Thinking about that situation, I remember saying to myself, wait a minute, that’s an Earthquake, how can we be having an Earthquake in the middle of a Pandemic (the COVID scare started the week prior)…how often does that happen? Two TICs at the same time, right?

Many people I have talked to since related having a hard time during the current Pandemic, and then topping it off with an Earthquake. One of my daughters-in-law was about to “blow a gasket” as her anxiety level peaked during that time.

If you remember, there was a frenzy of sheltering-in-place, empty shelves, social distancing, etc.

During this Preparedness Month, take time to think about your Go Bag (here’s a list from FEMA showing the most important items), or other emergency preparations. Here are some things to ask yourself:

1. How much water do you have stored?

2. Is your Go Bag right next to your bed since the Earthquake?

3. When the quake hit, what things were you wishing you had with you? Get those things and add them to your Go Bag by your bed.

4. With the COVID-19 and the Earthquake, I’m calling it the COVIDQuake, are there things you would do differently when it comes to preparedness?

5. Finally, did you end up using all that toilet paper? (just kidding)

Instead of spending the month celebrating by binge-watching old episodes of the “Walking Dead”, take a few minutes with your family and discuss what you all can do to be better prepared. Make a list of items you’d like to have in the event of a disaster. Talk about communications and family reunification. Basically, perform an after-action assessment within your home, so that you can learn what needs to be done in order to recover more quickly next time.

Stay healthy and be safe!

Did you know West Jordan offers free Emergency Preparedness classes? Learn more by contacting me: 801-834-8502 or jeff.mulcahy@westjordan.utah.gov.