An effort is underway to ensure West Seattle residents are prepared, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, for the next disaster that could leave them without power, water or even food.

Last winter's storm, officially named "Hanukkah Eve Wind Storm of 2006," that hit the region on Dec. 14 and 15, leaving thousands in West Seattle and more than a million across the Puget Sound without electricity, was an eye opener for many who were caught off guard and unprepared.

Cindi Barker, a member of the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council, has been trying to do her part to organize the communities here so that a system is in place for the next disaster, whether that's an earthquake or a windstorm.

During the Hanukkah storm, it wasn't easy for people to get hyper local information about power outages and available resources, said Barker. Many even turned to a local blog, which offered some of the most up-to-date information about what parts of West Seattle were with or without power and what businesses were still open.

Coordinated by the police department, the precinct advisory council and the Southwest District Council, Barker and others are trying to organize a location in the Morgan Junction Thriftway parking lot for a central communications base during emergencies.

"We can act as a message board," said Barker, also a member of the Morgan Community Association. "A clearing house for what's needed..."

Thriftway was an obvious choice, not only for its location, said Barker, but because during the storm it became a community-gathering place where people dropped by to exchange information.

The larger goal of the effort is to subsidize what the police, fire, public utilities and even the media can't often do in an emergency: provide explicitly local information and a centralized location for resources.

One of the challenges lies in coordinating West Seattle's many neighborhoods to get everyone on the same page, said Barker. That could mean designating whom from each neighborhood would go out and try to gather information in the event of a disaster and getting everyone the proper training.

"It's filling in the gaps neighborhood by neighborhood," said Barker. "Break everyone up and go to different parts of the neighborhood and get educated on what's going on (during an emergency)."

The district council and other community groups here have prioritized transportation and emergency preparedness as the top issues for the West Seattle community, said Lieutenant Steve Paulsen with the southwest precinct.

The city's emergency management team has been providing Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare workshops to several neighborhoods in West Seattle, Paulsen said. The precincts' crime prevention coordinator has also trained a majority of the area's more than 700 neighborhood block watches with the Seattle Disaster Aid and Response Team program.

It's important that communities learn from each incident, whether it's an earthquake here or Hurricane Katrina, Paulsen said.

"With each unplanned event, we have discovered vulnerabilities (and) lessons to address for future incidents as a means to become better prepared," he said.

Prior to the windstorm, the police recommended citizens have enough supplies on hand for up to three days.

"Now we stress to be prepared for at least a week," Paulsen said. "I cannot stress more that each individual needs to take responsibility to first be individually prepared."

Ideally, Paulsen said he'd like the neighborhoods to be "collectively organized."

"With neighborhood organization, we can then develop a communication plan between public safety and each neighborhood in order to better direct needed resources," he said. "I believe that each neighborhood should be aware of their available assets as well as have a neighborhood plan to assist one another."

The central command base could be a forum for such a system, said Barker. People from each community could go there to post information about their neighborhood and help people connect with what they need, such as food, flashlights or medical first-aid.

She plans to announce a community wide meeting on disaster preparedness for sometime later this year. She also stressed that it's not just about being prepared as a community, but also learning how to survive on your own.

"Let's just get out there and see what's going on," Barker said. "Even if we just get people to get a personal emergency kit, that's something."

For more information on emergency preparedness visit http://www.seattle.gov/html/citizen/emergency_resources.htm.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com