Morongo Emergency Management Radio Station
89.1 FM
What is the tribe doing? The tribe has taken proactive measures to prevent the spread of flu viruses. In protecting children, the education and transportation departments, have initiated increased cleaning and sanitizing programs that include education on proper hand washing and the importance of covering coughs. All other departments have increased access to hand sanitizers, and the facilities maintenance department has increased sanitization efforts in common areas.
Informational Links:
Riverside County Public Health Department
Federal Government Flu Website
Be Aware & Be Prepared
Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. When disaster strikes, you may not have much time to respond. A highway spill of hazardous material could mean instant evacuation. A winter rainstorm could confine your family at home. A flood, earthquake, or any other disaster will likely cut off essential services for days. After a disaster, local officials and relief workers will be on the scene, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours, or it may take days. Your family will cope best by preparing for disaster before it strikes. One way to prepare is by assembling an Emergency Kit. Once disaster hits, you will not have time to shop or search for supplies. However, if you have gathered supplies in advance, your family can endure an evacuation or home confinement. Be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least three days.
Disaster Preparedness
Basic items to stock at home:
FOOD & WATER
FIRST AID SUPPLIES
CLOTHING & BEDDING
TOOLS
EMERGENCY SUPPLIES & SPECIAL ITEMS
MEDICATIONS
SANITARY & HYGIENE ITEMS
An evacuation can occur at many different levels. You may be forced to evacuate your home due to a fire or natural gas leak; whereas the remainder of your neighborhood is not affected. Evacuations to your street or neighborhood may become necessary due to a serious threat to public safety. Regardless of the reason, preparation is important for your family during an emergency evacuation.
If an earthquake happens, protect yourself right away. If you are in a vehicle, pull over and stop. Set your parking brake. If you are in bed, turn face down and cover your head and neck with a pillow. If you are outdoors, stay outdoors away from buildings. Do not get in a doorway. Do not run outside.
Drop, Cover, and Hold on!
If a fire occurs in your home, it can devastate your family, destroy your home and property, and upset an entire neighborhood. In many cases, taking some basic but very important precautions, fires can be prevented.
Before a fire:
Install smoke alarms in your home (bedrooms, kitchen, and living room, and hallways at a minimum) Place fire extinguishers in a visible and accessible location such as your kitchen and garage. Replace them if they lose their charge or become used. Learn how to use fire extinguishers
Plan your escape:
Draw a floor plan of your home and mark two ways out of each room. Review the plan with household members and practice your escape routes annually. Decide on a safe place outside your home where everyone will meet after evacuating
If there is an area of high pressure with little or no rain and clouds, there is nothing to protect the air and ground from being heated excessively. When large high-pressure air is trapped, the ground and air will continue to heat, and the heat wave will continue to last.
The effects of the heat can be devastating. It is important to drink plenty of water and stay indoors when possible, go to a cooling center or an air conditioned facility, such as Morongo Casino Resort and Spa or even a movie theater.
If heat persist for a long period of time Morongo’s Emergency Management Department will advise the residents of the reservation on the
Morongo Emergency
Radio Station 89.1 FM
Heavy rainfall in the area may cause severe flooding, especially low-lying flats. The level of washes, creeks, streams, and culverts can rise quickly and pose a hazard to people and pets. The rule for being safe is simple: never cross-moving water (“turn around, don’t drown”).
Even a shallow depth of fast moving floodwater produces more force than most people imagine. The most dangerous thing one can do is try walking, swimming, or driving through swift water.
Before a flood occurs, create an evacuation plan by sharing with your family which areas may become impassable. If you live in a high-risk flood area, purchase a flood insurance policy. If you feel you are at risk, you should check with your insurance agent.
How do I catch the flu? Flu viruses are spread through human contact, just like the cold virus. It is also spread through the air by coughing or sneezing. Therefore it may be easier to catch than a cold. There are several actions to take that reassure you, and everyone else, is healthy this flu season:
What can I do to stay healthy?
- Get your flu shot
- Wash your hands often
- Use hand sanitizers
- Maintain distance of 3′ (feet) between people during gatherings
- Use tissues and dispose of them
- Cough and sneeze into your sleeve or a tissue
- Stay home when sick
When should I seek health care?
There are general recommendations to follow when considering seeking health care:
- High fever lasting three days
- A severe headache, especially associated with neck stiffness
- Wheezing, or difficulty breathing
- Sinus or ear pain
- Painful swelling in the neck
- Symptoms or fatigue that does not improve after seven days
Emergency Kit
Preparing Your Kit – Store your Emergency Kit in one location that is easily accessible in case evacuation is required. Store items in a large container such as a plastic tub with a lid, a suitcase, a duffel bag, or footlocker. Keep only essential supplies in the kit. Store water in plastic containers such as soft drink bottles instead of containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. A normally active person needs to drink at least two quarts of water each day. Hot environments and intense physical activity can double that amount. Children, nursing mothers, and ill people will need more. Store one gallon of water per person per day (two quarts for drinking, two quarts for food preparation/sanitation). Keep at least a three-day supply of water for each person in your household.
Food – Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food. Select foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking and use little or no water. Include a selection of the following foods in your Emergency Kit. Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits & vegetables Canned juices, milk, soup (if powdered, store extra water).
Staples – sugar, salt, pepper High energy foods – peanut butter, jelly, crackers, granola bars, trail mix Vitamins Foods for infants, elderly persons or persons on special diets
Comfort/stress foods – cookies, hard candy, sweetened cereals, lollipops, instant coffee, tea bags
First Aid Kit – Assemble a first aid kit for your home and one for each car. A first aid kit should include: Sterile adhesive bandages in assorted sizes 2 & 4 inch sterile gauze pads (4-6) Hypoallergenic adhesive tape Triangular bandages 2 & 3 inch sterile roller bandages Scissors Tweezers Needle Moistened towelettes Antiseptic Thermometer Tongue blades Tube of petroleum jelly or other lubricant Assorted sizes of safety pins Cleansing agent/soap Latex gloves (2 pair) Sunscreen Aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever Anti-diarrhea medication Antacid Syrup of Ipecac (use to induce vomiting if advised by the Poison Control Center) Laxative Activated charcoal (use if advised by the Poison Control Center).
Tools and Supplies – Mess kits or paper cups, plates and plastic utensils Emergency preparedness manual Battery operated radio and extra batteries Flashlight and extra batteries Cash or Traveler’s Checks, change Non-electric can opener, utility knife Fire extinguisher: Small canister, ABC type Tube tent Pliers Tape Compass Matches in a waterproof container Aluminum foil Plastic storage containers Signal flare Paper, pencil Needles, thread Medicine dropper Shut-off wrench, to turn off household gas and water Whistle Plastic sheeting Map of the area (for locating shelters).
Sanitation – Toilet paper, towelettes Soap, liquid detergent Feminine products Personal hygiene products Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation use) Plastic bucket with tight lid Disinfectant/Household chlorine bleach.
Clothing and Bedding – Include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear Sturdy shoes or work boots Rain Gear Blankets or sleeping bags Pillows Hats, gloves and sunglasses Thermal underwear Special Items For Baby Formula Diapers Bottles Powdered milk Medications For Adults Heart and High blood pressure medication Insulin Prescription drugs Denture needs Contact lenses and supplies Extra eye glasses Entertainment Games and books.
Important Documents – Keep these records in a waterproof, portable container. Will, insurance policies, contracts, deeds, stocks and bonds Passports, social security cards, immunization records Bank account numbers and companies, Inventory of valuable household goods, important telephone numbers Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates).
Suggestions and Reminders – Store your kit in a convenient place known to all family members. Keep a smaller version of the Emergency Kit in the trunk of your car. Keep items in airtight plastic bags and in convenient moveable containers. Change your stored water supply every six months so it stays fresh. Rotate your stored food every six months. Re-think your kit and family needs at least once a year. Replace batteries, update clothes, etc. Ask your physician or pharmacist about storing prescription medications.
Emergency Radio Capabilities
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians Emergency Operation Center has many ways to communicate in the event of a disaster or emergency. As communications are often overloaded and fail during a disaster, intercommunications and redundancy are necessary.
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians has licensed several business-band frequencies and has an analog radio repeater that will be used as our EOC network to communicate in a disaster. This system undergoes monthly tests on the first Thursday of each month throughout the year. The Public Works department also has a separate analog radio repeater system and channel that they use for day-to-day operations, and in the event of an emergency or disaster, they can tune to the EOC Net channel.
Our Public Safety Officers have a digital repeater radio system that allows for secure communications for day-to-day operations and ability to utilize the analog EOC network as well, ensuring inter-communications.
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians has an agreement with a vendor, Mobile Relay, a radio communications company that can transmit radio communications across many of the most populated areas of the state of California. This system can transmit radio communications well off the reservation. As a result, our transportation and school utilize this system to communicate their day-to-day operations and allows them to communicate with each other when they leave the reservation for student pick up/drop-off’s in the neighboring cities of Banning & Beaumont, out of town field trips, and many other locations throughout Southern California.
Further enablement of communications in a disaster, Morongo’s Disaster Preparedness Department also utilizes this system through Mobile Relay with the twelve other tribes located in Riverside County. This system undergoes monthly tests on the second Wednesday of the month with a communications request of check-ins from each tribe. Such testing enables Morongo to communicate as far away as the city of Indio, to parts of San Bernardino County, and shortly, to the mountain areas of Anza. If the Mobile Relay system was to go down. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians worked with the San Gorgonio Pass Amateur Radio Club (SPARC), to test its amateur radio communications between the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The tests reassured the success of a backup emergency communications system between the tribes if they needed each other’s assistance during a major emergency or disaster as cell phone services can become useless even during minor incidents. As such, alternative communications become a necessity, and amateur radios are often the only means of communicating during these incidents. Each of the four Southern California Tribes that participate in the radio communication testing, face significant threats that they are continuously preparing for, however; amateur radio operations require licensing and equipment operation knowledge that is not always available on reservations.
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians also has communications within the operational area (County) via the Riverside County disaster net radio system. This system undergoes monthly tests on the second Wednesday of each month throughout the year. Also, Morongo can monitor and transmit, if necessary, to Police and Fire operations, inner-operational frequencies/channels, as well as many amateur radio frequencies on several bands, and also FRS/GMRS, and CB bands used by the public.
In addition to the amateur radio effort, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians utilizes its own Reservation Disaster Radio station, which is an implementation of A low-power radio broadcast station (89.1 FM), to transmit to its residence important Emergency/Disaster information. The station can be heard reservation wide when it is turned on, and worldwide when it is attached to Morongo’s web page (WWW.Morongo.org) on the internet. Morongo also uses its Cable TV system, which has an access channel that can be used to broadcast important Emergency/Disaster information.