Anchorage marks preparedness month after housing 655 evacuees

Anchorage took in 655 people who evacuated Western Alaska communities after Typhoon Halong last fall. The city's Office of Emergency Management housed 288 of them in two congregate shelters and had identified 1,000 other beds.

The American Red Cross of Alaska counted nearly 4,000 overnight stays at the Alaska Airlines Center and the William A. Egan Civic Center.

The Assembly takes up a resolution Tuesday recognizing September as National Preparedness Month, drafted by that same office. It asks residents to build disaster supply kits, practice their emergency plans and stay connected to public safety alerts. It directs no spending.

The resolution cites the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake, and lists winter storms, windstorms, wildfires, flooding, the 2018 Point Mackenzie earthquake, COVID-19, the Hiland Avalanche and Halong as evidence of the community's preparedness.

The office updated the municipality's emergency operations plan in June. A memorandum on the same agenda counts five declared local emergencies in Anchorage since 2018.