David Schmalz here. It was a pure matter of chance that yesterday, as I was readying to spend the afternoon at the Monterey Public Library doing research, I learned a delegation of mayors from Japan would be assembling on the second floor of Colton Hall to be briefed about the City of Monterey’s disaster management and response plans.
I decided to check it out.
The delegation—nine mayors, seven prefectural (state) association secretary generals, a translator and two guides—pulled up in a bus in front of Colton Hall around 1:45pm, having just come from an abalone lunch on Cannery Row. Already, they’d spent the day learning about the city’s government, its history and the connection its early settlers had with Japan. Before Japanese Americans were herded into internment camps during WWII—a shameful chapter in American history—they owned the majority of businesses on Fisherman’s Wharf, and were pioneers in the local fishing industry.
Nat Rojanasathira, Monterey’s assistant city manager, gave opening remarks about how the city’s government communicates internally during an emergency situation, briefing various departments. The types of disasters the city must be prepared for, Rojanasthira told the mayors, were tsunamis, earthquakes, fire and flooding caused by sea level rise.
Monterey Fire Division Chief Justin Cooper told them how Monterey has a “tsunami playbook.” Late last year, after a 7.0 earthquake near Humboldt, he said the city was able to learn within 15 minutes that it wouldn’t cause a tsunami.
He also talked about how California is known for its vast mutual aid system, where multiple public agencies team up in response to disasters anywhere across the state, as is so often seen in wildfires. (Fires are one type of disaster Japan doesn’t have to worry about, at least not yet—its landscape is lush, and when it's hot, it’s humid.)
Kim Cole, Monterey’s community development director, then got into how the city is preparing for sea level rise. She talked about climate change, and mentioned the city now looks at potential hazards like climate-driven fire risk when it analyzes potential development; the fire department is working on regulations for homeowners whose property falls into the higher fire risk zones in the city.
As far as strategies to adapt to sea level rise, she conceded, “We don’t have all the answers yet.” One topline concern, Cole said, was ensuring that it didn’t cause water to back up into the city’s storm drains, and she also mentioned that one of Monterey’s main arteries—Del Monte Avenue—is vulnerable to flooding due to sea level rise.
It was refreshing to see how seriously Monterey is taking the threats it’s facing, so much so that a Japanese delegation wanted to learn from them.
Because the future, unfortunately, will bring an escalating succession of climate-driven disasters across the region and world—this is known.
What remains unknown is when, and in some cases, where. With that being the case, it’s critical to get and stay ready, and to learn from each other.