This is only a drill.
To better prepare for disasters, the City of Issaquah — along with community partners — is participating in the regional Cascadia Rising exercise from June 7-10, 2016.
Here's the scenario: A 9.0 magnitude earthquake has hit the west coast, and our community has sustained extensive damage.
As part of this exercise, Issaquah is partnering with the National Guard, which will be in town all week with vehicles and other equipment. Participants also plan to land a Black Hawk helicopter at Central Park at noon June 8. Residents may also see uniformed police officers and firefighters during the exercise.
Responding to a significant disaster requires effective coordination of governments at all levels — cities, counties, state agencies, federal officials, the military, tribal nations — as well as non-government organizations and the private sector.
One of the primary goals of this exercise is to train and test this teamwork approach to complex disaster operations. To learn more, go to fema.gov/cascadia-rising-2016.