Jefferson and Clallam County emergency workers were well represented at the U.S. Navy’s 3rd Fleet amphibious exercise in Grays Harbor on Aug. 1.

Washington National Guard Commander Major General Brett Daugherty invited Fire District 3 Disaster Planner/CERT Coordinator Blaine Zechenelly, Clallam County Emergency Management volunteer Jim Buck and Jefferson County Emergency Manager Lynn Sterbenz to attend the exercise.

The group met Washington State Emergency Management Director Robert Ezelle at Fort Lewis and flew to Westport on a Washington National Guard CH-47 chinook helicopter. They observed crew members from the USS Anchorage land supplies and heavy equipment using landing craft.

The landing craft delivered two Humvees, a front-end loader, a dump truck and utility truck with a portable fuel tank.

The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate how the U.S. Navy can provide emergency assistance to coastal counties after a Cascadia Subduction earthquake and tsunami. Ships like the Anchorage can act as floating supply bases off the Olympic Peninsula. They can deliver supplies to communities using a number of different types of landing craft, boats and helicopters.

The 800-mile Cascadia Subduction Zone off the Pacific Coast, which stretches from southern British Columbia to Northern California, spawns massive earthquakes an average of once every 200 to 500 years, with the last in about 1700.

Officials say it is not if, but when, the next major quake will occur.

After viewing the amphibious landing, the group flew to the USS Anchorage for a tour of the ship. The ship can carry up to 800 Marines with all of their vehicles and supplies, and can purify 72,000 gallons of fresh water per day. It also has a 22-bed hospital with two operating rooms and a six-bed intensive care unit.

“The communities on the Olympic Peninsula know they will need to sustain themselves for a time until help is able to arrive,” Sterbenz said. “Planning with our military partners now helps us to know how and when that help will come, how we can best prepare to receive them and what they will need from us.”

Clallam County has been recognized as leading the state in planning for the Cascadia earthquake and tsunami. Until now, all planning was aimed at obtaining relief supplies by air, Buck said. This amphibious exercise provided new insights about how Emergency Management can use the Navy to improve response.

“Air supply will be vital during the first weeks after the quake but the bulk of what we need to start recovery will have to come by sea,” Buck said. “This was a great opportunity to learn how that can be done.”

Zechenelly used the exercise to make contacts with 3rd Fleet personnel. Discussion allowed personnel to determine the type of equipment that they have available to assist peninsula residents. He also discussed how to arrange pre-event surveys of beaches along the Strait of Juan de Fuca where amphibious landings can bring emergency supplies ashore.

Buck said he plans on incorporating these locations in the Clallam County Cascadia Response Plan.

“This will show us which roads we have to clear first so we can do a better job of setting up distribution points for our residents,” Buck said.