Disaster Preparedness
[On Oct. 16] at 2:46 in the morning, we received a wake-up call for the Westside of Ventura and all areas below the Casitas Dam.
The Bureau of Reclamation is currently excavating and performing other “improvements†to the front side of the dam, which is holding back millions of gallons of water. The bureau has promised (for months) to install effective warning devices (sirens) and to disseminate an evacuation plan to all affected residents downstream. As of this date, neither has occurred. The sirens are ineffective and not heard throughout the community, and the evacuation plan has never been distributed. The bureau has not let these small details stand in the way of its project. They are working right now on the front side of a full dam without either of these safety precautions in place. They assure us that everything is OK: “Don’t worry, be happy.â€
If the earthquake had been closer, the major story of the day might well have been the extinction of the 16,000 people who live under the very real shadow of the dam.
Why is this potential disaster permitted to continue without every possible step being taken to assure the public safety? Why have the city leaders not been more active in seeing that the residents of the Westside are offered some small measure of protection?
Could it be that “the Avenue†is considered expendable by those who make the cost-benefit analysis? Is anybody paying attention?
RICHARD ROACH
Ventura
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