However, I am pleased to report that Quinn Butler, with Washington State Emergency Management Division (EMD) took up the challenge. Just last week he had an opportunity to brief a number of local emergency management directors on the status of recovery planning by the state. He did an excellent job — taking notes as he got feedback on his presentation.
For those of you interested in the disaster field, this is the level of effort it takes to get into the profession. Quinn Butler's story is below.
As a freshman attending Western Washington University, I didn't know what I wanted to study. I was interested in the outdoors, but recognized that earning a degree in "Outdoor Recreation and Leisure" wasn't the reason my parents were shelling out tens of thousands of dollars a year for me to attend college out of state. By the end of my first year I enrolled in an introductory geology course and was hooked. Through my early coursework, among many other topics, I learned about the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ), how tsunamis are generated, what liquefaction and lahars are, and why the cascades exist.
Then the 2011 Tohoku disaster occurred. I remember watching footage of the devastation with my roommates huddled around a computer. Maybe it was because I had recently learned about the "overdue" CSZ in our backyard, but seeing the extensive damage in Japan made me truly start to comprehend the immense risk we live with every day in the PNW. The only other major disaster frames of reference I had at the time were Hurricane Katrina (and I'll admit I still don't get too excited about meteorological events) and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. In the 2011 Tohoku disaster, the earthquake and tsunami resulted in approximately 16,000 lives lost. The 2004 Sumatra disaster took over 280,000 lives. Nearly 18x as many as Japan. This massive discrepancy in the number of lives lost between these two events was what led me to focus more on geological hazards and less on memorizing mineral formulas.
Soon after, I applied for a minor in Disaster Risk Reduction, where I learned about social vulnerabilities, natural hazards, mitigation, and emergency management. I graduated with my disaster minor and a B.S. in Environmental and Engineering Geology.
Only one day after walking at my graduation ceremony, I moved down to Olympia and began an internship as a seismic hazard intern at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). I had first learned about the position through my geology program’s email listserv. This was also where I found and applied for a National Park Service Geoscientist-In-the-Parks internship during one of my summers attending college. After three months of burying seismometers and running HAZUS model after HAZUS model, I was hired as a temporary field assistant to work on a school seismic safety pilot project. Although this was not a permanent position, moving from an internship status to a full-time, paid field assistant provided me with confidence in my abilities and reassurance that hard work and determination pays off.
Through connections I made at a HAZUS training course in Portland months earlier and by demonstrating my knowledge and eagerness to learn, I was offered a position with the Department of Oregon Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) on a seismic hazard risk assessment project for the Portland urban area. I’ve never taken networking for granted since this experience. Upon completion of my work at DOGAMI, I served as an Americorps disaster preparedness coordinator with the American Red Cross (ARC) which brought my focus back to emergency management. After completing my term of service at the ARC, I landed a job at the Washington State Emergency Management Division (EMD) as a disaster recovery coordinator, where I am currently employed. Collaborating on a workshop with someone from EMD and networking with them contributed to how I found and applied for this position.
So what brought me to where I am today and why do I do what I do? Perseverance, determination, patience, commitment, networking, and a medley of various internships and temporary positions beyond emergency management. I am in the emergency management field because I have a passion for helping people while simultaneously working in complex environments, and as many of you know, natural disasters are some of the most complicated phenomena on the planet.
