Yesterday morning at 0800 hours, the City of Petaluma opened its EOC (Emergency Operation Center) and simulated a Functional Emergency Management Exercise titled, "Operation Rock Around the Clock." The goal of the exercise was to enhance the operational readiness of the City of Petaluma to identify future training needs. Guess what?

Ever since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the San Francisco Earthquake Centennial in 2006, this blogger has bombarded you with numerous ramblings related to "Emergency Preparedness." One might think that by now, the majority of residents in California and the North Bay Region - in particular - would "Be Ready" and prepared to cope with a mega-disaster like a 6.0 magnitude earthquake along our local Rodgers Creek Fault. I wouldn't bet on it by a long shot!

Wham! Bang! Boom! What was that? Oh no, it's an EARTHQUAKE! What do I do?

As stated in Emergency Preparedness Blog #25 - "Stay tuned, the R.Q. averages for zip codes 94952 and 94954 will be released this weekend." OK, so we a week late; but we wanted to allow time for the "Prepare Petaluma Forum" to be held first - which was last Thursday. Here is the report that was announced at yesterday's meeting of NERT Sparkplugs. (Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams)

This blog will be posted while Me, Myself & I are at today's "Petaluma Going Green Expo." We're on a panel of speakers, who each have five minutes to showcase a local grassroots movement that helps Petalumans "make connections, build community, and add value to our quality of life." Which ones do we highlight is our dilemma. Since 1995, PetalumaNet has been the incubator of several projects that fit this challenge. For example: PEN (Petaluma Electronic Network), three annual Community Internet Fairs - 1996, 97, 98, or the three annual North Bay CyberCity Roundtable Symposia at Sonoma State University - 2000, 01, 02, the No One Left Out Project, or the creation of a Computer Lab for Senior Citizens were all "community building" endeavors that contributed to adding value to the quality of life in our favorite river town.

So far, we've posted over 40 blogs related to Emergency Preparedness and disaster planning issues since November 13, 2005. We've asked you to take the one-minute Readiness Quotient Survey. http//www.whatsyourrq.org