ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Governor Bill Walker’s Rural Affairs Coordinator Paulette Schuerch and Arctic Advisor Craig Fleener joined Deputy Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs (DMVA) Bob Doehl and Director of the DMVA’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHS&EM) Mike O’Hare on a visit to Shishmaref this week. The team met with community leaders and worked to update disaster preparedness and emergency management plans.
“Decreasing sea ice, rising water levels, and increasingly intense storms pose significant and growing threats to coastal communities,” Schuerch said. “The Walker/Mallott Administration is committed to working with rural communities to prevent problems and address them effectively when they arise. We’ll leverage local, borough, tribal, state, and federal resources to the maximum extent possible to keep Alaskans safe.”
In addition to those mentioned above, Alaska State Senator Donny Olson, representatives from the City of Shishmaref, the Native Village of Shishmaref IRA, the Shishmaref Native Corporation, and the Bering Straits School District worked with a DHS&EM team to refresh lines of communication, foster greater coordination between the community, regional partners, and the state, and improve Shishmaref’s ability to respond to disasters. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska National Guard tasked with disaster response planning also were on hand to support the effort.
Situated on a low barrier island and fully exposed to the Bering Sea, Shishmaref faces high risk of damage from storms. The village is battling erosion which continues to threaten the protective barrier between the shore and the community. Several efforts to install new or shore up existing seawalls have met with varying degrees of success.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]
DHS&EM’s planning team will continue to work with the community to incorporate their Small Community Emergency Response Plan, Emergency Operations Plan, Evacuation Plan, and Continuity of Operations Plan. With updated plans in place, DHS&EM and other agencies will be better able to arm Shishmaref’s Incident Management Team with the skills necessary to execute the community’s suite of emergency response plans. Future training will be followed by exercises and drills to give residents of the community opportunities to test their skills.
“Our job is to do everything we can to help the people of Shishmaref anticipate, prepare for, and respond to a wide array of very real challenges,” O’Hare said. “The community is already on a strong footing of cooperation and resolve, with a solid suite of emergency response plans. With updated plans in place, we can focus on long-term strategic solutions, such as relocation of the community, confident Shishmaref can protect its residents in the meantime.”
Travel to Shishmaref was provided by Alaska Air and Army National Guards as part of a required federal military training mission to Tin City, using a C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft. The Alaska National Guard carries out a federally mandated minimum amount of military training every year, including aviation operations, in order to remain in a state of readiness for possible deployment.
Source: State of Alaska
