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To the Editor: 

I do not wish to contribute to the fear that defines our world these days.  

However, it seems that there isn’t a more appropriate time for us to adopt a proactive disaster readiness strategy that prepares us for local emergencies.  

One thing is certain: we will continue to experience emergencies – power failure, severe weather and floods, fire, explosions, chemical accidents, terrorism, civil unrest, weapons of mass destruction, earthquake. The disruption of our daily lives will be magnified for people who already live on the margins – seniors, non-English speaking people, disabled, undocumented people, medically fragile, very low-income and others who have special needs and are typically left out when times get tough.  

With all the talk about creating security in this unsafe world, some basic steps are not being taken here at home, where we are so disaster-prone. We don’t have a system in place that is ready to support all the schools, clinics, nursing homes, residential sites, service organizations, food pantries, church programs – all of the organizations that serve the diversity of our city in times of daily crisis. In a disaster, we need these groups, who today provide much of our social infrastructure, to continue their work and indeed provide the core of services alongside the city, county and Red Cross’ mass sheltering and public safety. Community-based organizations must meet disaster with efficiency and creativity. Don’t expect government to do this. CBOs need to be prepared for emergencies, integrated with government, and supported so they can expand their reach to meet multifold disaster needs. Neither these organizations or government can prepare our communities alone.  

We have a model organization to do just that: Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters (CARD), which was created after the 1989 earthquake.  

But the city and county by and large still do not accept responsibility for a public/non-profit partnership. Until Berkeley and the county embrace such an organization, our readiness will be modeled on avoidance and inability to get beyond our fears.  

Daniel Barth 

Building Opportunities  

for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) 

Berkeley