As a follow-up to the tragedy we are witnessing in Japan, last week I sent an email to all Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization (NERO) leaders and interested parties, urging them to check the status of their NEROs or, if they still did not have a NERO in their neighborhood, to organize one. To my surprise, approximately 35 percent of those emails that previously went through without a problem were returned as undeliverable.

With the horrific events in Japan that we are observing daily (the best prepared country in the world) — and with the knowledge that the Seattle Fault runs just north of our Island, that the Tacoma Fault runs east-west right across the center of Vashon, that tsunamis have occurred in Puget Sound in the past and that there is an extremely dangerous sleeping giant just off the coast (the Cascadia Subduction Zone) that unleashed a 9.0 earthquake a little over 311 years ago — we need to do what we can to prepare for an event we hope and pray will never occur. To effectively and efficiently mitigate damage from such an event, your help is needed.

If you are a NERO leader, please check with your neighbors to help ensure they are prepared for a catastrophic event, both as individuals and as neighborhood emergency response team members, and please let me know that your NERO is still in existence.

If your NERO needs to be revitalized and you need help and/or materials, please let me know what I can do to help you.

If you don’t have a NERO and want to form one, contact me by phone at 463-1321 or email at jbigranger@centurytel.net. Forming a NERO does not require a major effort and can pay tremendous dividends should a catastrophic event occur on Vashon.

And remember what seismological experts say regarding a major earthquake in our region: It is not a question of “if”; it is simply a question of when.

— Joe Ulatoski