Neighborhood Emergency Team
The South Waterfront Neighborhood Emergency Team (SoWa NET) is one of nearly 90 NETs supported by and supporting the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM). SoWa NET covers the area from the Ross Island Bridge on the north to, and including, the south side of Bancroft St on the south, and from Interstate 5 on the west to the Willamette River on the east. SoWa NET meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm. Meetings may be held on-line by Zoom, in-person in locations that vary, or as a hybrid of on-line and in-person. Email netfederationsowa@gmail.com for meeting details and requests for information.
SoWa residents are encouraged to learn about what can be done to prepare for natural disasters. Advance preparation and neighbors helping neighbors are the most important ways for neighborhoods to survive a disaster and to have the resilience to recover afterwards. Taking a few steps now to prepare yourself, your family, and your neighbors just makes sense. Even a little advance preparation can make a huge difference when a natural disaster happens.
NETs include Portland residents trained by PBEM and Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) to provide emergency assistance within their neighborhoods. NET members are tasked with developing plans for disaster preparation, response, and recovery, all three components of disaster resilience. They are encouraged to recruit and include on the building and neighborhood teams affiliated trained volunteers (ATVs) who have any skill useful for building disaster resilience. They are also encouraged to be prepared for spontaneous untrained volunteers (SUVs) who may want to assist in disaster response and recovery. SoWa NET welcomes volunteers as either ATVs or SUVs.
SoWa NET works to 1) help individuals be prepared in their living units by stocking up on emergency supplies including water, food, and equipment, 2) coordinate preparedness within every building in South Waterfront, 3) ready the entire SoWa community, addressing issues beyond the capacity of one building to solve, 4) organize a communication network within SoWa to provide access to emergency resources outside our neighborhood as quickly as possible and 5) develop a working relationship with Fire Station 4, located at SW 5th Ave and College St, the primary Fire Station for SoWa.
SoWa NET includes several local Amateur Radio Operators (AROs) (aka, ham radio operators) who will be able to communicate with emergency resources outside our neighborhood. Each building’s preparedness team will use a Family Radio Service (FRS) or General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) radio to communicate with the SoWa NET command center so we can better communicate our condition and needs to PBEM.
See here for SoWa NET’s Operations Plan and here to view South Waterfront’s Emergency Preparedness Guide.