Massive Oso Landslide Response Bolstered with CHDS Alumni
This photograph shows the upper part of the Oso Mudslide that occurred in northwest Washington on March 22, 2014.
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Godt, USGS
The iconic mountainous landscapes carved by ice sheets centuries ago gives the Pacific Northwest its breathtaking beauty, and sometimes its peril.
That was grimly evident March 22 as relentless rains coupled with geography triggered what some observers called a “wall of mud” slamming through the rural town of Oso, Washington, and into the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The slide killed at least 42, caused flooding, closed a state highway and left a barren swath of earthen devastation.
Known popularly as the Oso mudslide, the disaster synthesized all the challenges of emergency management as homes were buried, search and rescue teams descended and multiple agencies strategized in a remote hamlet of Snohomish County.
Leaders who are alumni and current students of Center for Homeland Defense and Security programs were at the forefront in responding to what has been called the most destructive event in the state since Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980. Read the full story…
Associated resources:
- Full story
- About CHDS alumni from Washington [pdf]
- Theses from alumni responders:
- “First Responder Weapons of Mass Destruction Training Using Massively Multiplayer On-line Gaming” [pdf], by Thomas Richardson – Battalion Chief, Seattle Fire Department
- “Now Is the Time for CVE-2: Updating and Implementing a Revised U.S. National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism” [pdf], by Tom Davis – Captain, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office
- “The Impact of Incentives and Requirements on Group Collaboration” [pdf], by Sheryl Jardine – Manager, Grants & Contracts; Seattle Police Departments
- “Intergovernmental Unity of Effort in Support of Biological Threat Prevention” [pdf], by Wendy Stevens – Region X Tribal Affairs & Relations, Tribal Liaison, US Department of Homeland Security, FEMA