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Evacuation� 2006-02-15 Life behind the big oak doors in City Hall continues apace. My work itself is mind numbing, but the surroundings are fascinating. So at least I have something to do with my mind. Last week I got to see an evacuation from the inside. Once the decision was made to evacuate they had phones hooked up withing 5 minutes and a team of staffers manning the lines. In another hour volunteers increased their ranks. Evacuation sites were set up at local schools. The day after the evacuation there were lots of haggard faces in the office. Many had spent most of the night answering phones. A lot of people in the office also lived in the evacuated area. I did hear complaints that the evacuation could have been better planned, but it seemed to me that it was the evacuees that were unprepared, not the evacuators. Phone calls from evacuees ranged from 'Where do I go? What to I do?' to 'I've got all important paperwork, pets and family documents taken care of; is there anything I can do to help the evacuation?' � |