WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – How do you prepare for a disaster you hope never happens?

Whatcom County sits in the shadow of Mount Baker, on a salt water coast and along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. At some point, this county will experience a major earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption or lahar.

Those aren’t the only natural hazards. We regularly experience seasonal wildfires, flooding and landslides.

Perhaps we won’t flood for another 100 years or experience the next big earthquake for hundreds of years. But odds are, one or more major disaster will occur within our lifetime. So, how to prepare?

Imagine it has.

The mountain shook and a river of mud is now roaring down the Nooksack River. Or the tsunami alarm at Birch Bay goes off. Or a pipeline with fuel ruptures. What would you do?

For those in emergency management, planning for response and recovery means borrowing a page from every coach’s playbook. Practice the fundamentals, run drills and trainings and exercise the game plan. Because, as any coach will attest: you play like you practice.

October is a busy month – not just in the gym or on the ball field, but also at the Emergency Operations Center and in conference rooms around Whatcom County, as trainings and exercises take place.

From delivering classes in Incident Command System (ICS) response to staffing Flood Preparedness Week and supporting full-scale exercises by area industries, the sheriff’s office Division of Emergency Management is helping our community prepare for potential disaster.

To find out more about our most likely hazards, check out the Natural Hazards Explorer webpage. And to learn what you can do to be ready for what might come, visit the state’s preparedness webpage and WhatcomReady.org (and bookmark the WhatcomReady Facebook page.)

Amy Cloud is the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management.  She was born and raised locally, leaving for Whitman College and work in Seattle, Knoxville and Washington, D.C. She returned to work as Supervising News Producer and reporter for KVOS-TV’s NewsView before switching to communications for WWU, PeaceHealth and the City of Bellingham. She also co-chairs the Community PIO Group and is a member of the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues.