San Jose holds emergency-management study session, runs tabletop earthquake exercise

San Jose city officials and emergency-management staff held a City Council study session focused on the city's emergency response organization, ran a tabletop exercise modeled on a hypothetical 7.2 earthquake on the Hayward Fault and reviewed roles, staffing and communications priorities for the first 24 hours of a major event.

The session, led by Ray Reardon, director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and senior staff, emphasized the city's new Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the Disaster District Office (DDO) concept for council districts and the need to prioritize equity for vulnerable residents during response and recovery. City Manager Jennifer McGuire opened the session by thanking the OEM team and stressing that equity must be incorporated throughout planning, response and recovery.

"Their tireless efforts, dedication, and adaptability have been instrumental in protecting the health and well-being of our community," McGuire said, adding that elected leaders' support, guidance and communication with constituents are vital. Reardon later reviewed the city's recent activations and capabilities and noted that the OEM has responded to 15 incidents since the start of the COVID response and cumulatively has spent more than 99 days as an integrated incident management team or EOC staff on those activations.

Why it matters

Officials said frequent activations and training improve organizational "muscle memory" for incident response and that early EOC activation and centralized communications can materially affect outcomes. Jennifer Schembri, deputy city manager and EOC director for the exercise, said early centralized coordination was a factor in lowering deaths in large wildfires compared with other disasters that delayed EOC activation.

What the city reviewed

- Disaster District Office concept: Karen Truong, resources and community planning coordinator for OEM, explained the DDO phases (prepare, monitor, watch, activate). A DDO can be a physical or virtual council-district desk to maintain policy functions, provide constituent information and communicate unmet needs back to the EOC. Truong noted San Jose has not yet activated a DDO in a real event but has used virtual tools during recent incidents.

- EOC organization and sections: Section leads introduced their roles and first-24-hour priorities. Carolina Camarena, director of communications and the emergency public information officer, said the emergency public information branch focuses on "providing frequent updates to save lives, livelihoods, and the environment" and delivering life-saving information in multiple languages. She said the city will provide messages in a minimum of Spanish, English, Vietnamese, traditional Chinese and American Sign Language for major events.

- Operations, logistics and mass care: Operations and public-safety leaders described priorities of life safety, stabilization, damage assessment and resource requests. Matt Lehi (operations section), Walter Lynn (logistics), Andrea Flores Shelton (mass care) and Cupid Alexander (housing) walked through sheltering, mass care and the need to verify facility safety before sending people to congregate shelters. Staff said the city intends to use large venues and school sites under preexisting MOUs but stressed that sites must be cleared by inspections before being advertised as safe.

- Damage assessment and mutual aid: Planning and building staff reviewed damage-assessment priorities and the need to provide initial damage estimates quickly to county and state partners. Officials said initial macro damage reporting is expected rapidly (staff noted a target window on the order of tens of hours, with planning and mutual-aid requests flowing to the county and state), and that mutual aid timelines depend on regional impacts and transport access; airport availability was cited as a key enabler to bring external resources quickly.

- Tools, communications and community partners: City staff demonstrated analytic tools to plan phased evacuations to reduce gridlock and discussed the role of CERT, RACES/ham radio, FirstNet phones, satellite phones and Everbridge notifications. Staff said they maintain contracts and standby procurement for critical supplies but acknowledged global shortages (as experienced during COVID) can complicate early acquisition.

Documentation and reimbursement

Maria Oberg, finance director and finance/administration section coordinator, explained the central role of finance in documentation for later reimbursement: "The very first thing that finance does ... is set up a tracking code in all of our financial systems ... so that from the get go, we can start tracking our time and our timekeeping ... and our financial management system on purchase orders, contracts, and everything like that." She emphasized that meticulous cost tracking and timekeeping are required to pursue state and federal reimbursement through Cal OES and FEMA.

Equity and vulnerable populations

Andrea Aguilar, access and functional needs coordinator, described priorities for people with disabilities, older adults and others with functional needs: ensuring accessible transportation for evacuations, ADA-compliant shelter spaces, continuity of medication and electrical-dependent medical devices, pet and service-animal considerations, and mental-health supports in shelters.

Questions and follow-ups requested by council

Council members asked for a written organizational chart with names tied to EOC functions (Councilmember Casey), clearer public messaging guidance for the city's landing page and social channels during an event, and details on whether FirstNet phones and satellite devices would provide prioritized communications. Staff said they will provide an organizational chart and noted the city maintains satellite phones and FirstNet capability to prioritize emergency communications.

No formal actions

The study session was informational; staff ran a scenario-driven tabletop exercise and solicited council input but there were no motions, votes or formal policy decisions recorded during the meeting.

Ending

Staff said they will follow up with the requested organizational chart and continue planning and exercises. The session closed with thanks to OEM staff and a reminder from city leadership about the centrality of preparedness, equity and coordinated communications in protecting San Jose residents and first responders.