Pacifica’s geographic location makes it a beautiful city to live in and a great place to visit. But this same location makes it highly susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding, mudslides and tsunamis. Because of the location of the San Andreas fault, the city is also susceptible to being isolated in a major event.
Specific police personnel are assigned the responsibility to prepare and maintain an operational emergency management plan for all city departments for use in managing a major disaster. Disaster exercises are conducted within the city in conjunction with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services. Personnel assigned to emergency preparedness are trained in the Standard Emergency Management System used throughout the State of California
No city will be able to assist every household during or immediately after a major disaster, so citizens should be prepared to take care of themselves and help their neighbors for at least 72 hours if not longer, depending on the type and intensity of the disaster.
Disaster preparedness training is one of the many responsibilities assigned to the City of Pacifica's Emergency Preparedness & Safety Commission. If you have a group that would like a presentation on what to do to prepare for a disaster, please contact the police department's main business line.
SMC Alert Network
Pacifica provides its residents with the ability to participate in the county alert system known as SMC Alert. The program allows participates to receive automatic notifcations to their computers, cell phones or any device capable of receiving email on such things as utility outages, road closures and weather warnings. For more information and to sign up, visit www.smcalert.info.
San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services
There are a variety of services available from San Mateo County. For more information, visit www.smcready.org.
United States Department of Homeland Security
In addition, there are more resources available from www.ready.gov.
CERT Training
The North County Fire Authority is offering another session of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training at the Pacifica Police Department. You can sign up on line with the following link: http://www.northcountyfire.org/sections/home/emergency_prep.htm or contact the North County Fire Authority for more information and to sign up for training.
