Malibu Balks At Serving Seniors in Disasters

No surprise that according to a Malibu City Hall press release, the city’s 7th Annual Safety and Preparedness Fair was a great success, and residents apparently should look forward to the next fire with confidence.

But don’t ask the home health personnel and others who have been unsuccessfully trying to get a recalcitrant Malibu to cooperate in drafting a so-called Disaster Registry identifying vulnerable residents who need to be alerted and aided in the next calamity sure to come.

The hard fact is that seniors are now estimated at a stunning 60 per cent of the 6,000 or so residents still persevering in Malibu, while unknown are how many lack mobility or are dependent on medical hardware to survive. But they are there, neighbors all, and are at risk.

Of note, that population estimate of 6,000 is distressingly less than half the number living in Malibu prior to the last two wildfires. And that is no thanks to the city’s dismal rebuild efforts; that for all the puffery and promises to fast track the permit process and the hiring of a cadre of consultant, it remains an excruciating and costly planning charade.

Incompetence, boondoggling, whatever, that only one rebuild from the Palisades Fire has been issued in Malibu is shameful. In comparison during the same time several hundred have been issued by L.A. City in the Pacific Palisades, and construction can be seen everywhere there.

Malibu just does not seem to be able to get its act together to do something besides holding fair issuing press releases and padding payrolls. To be sure, drafting a Disaster Registry would be an effort, but vital in assisting people who need help when disaster strikes.

As declared by home health specialist Kristin Thames, these are people who cannot simply “pack up and go,’” Many rely on oxygen tanks, powered wheelchairs, medications, or caregivers who may not be able to reach them when roads are closed,” continued Thames, a registered nurse.

“Too often, they are left to wait, hope, and survive on their own. The results have been tragic,” said Thames, who serves some 30 patients in Malibu, and in the interest of full disclosure, that includes an impaired me approaching 90. In our family’s long years in Malibu, we have survived five fires, and two evacuations, each one harder than the last.

And after the last two devastating fires it has been suggested several times that a neighborhood structure be established, facilitated by city personnel; that they should get out from behind their PCs and actually walk the streets of Malibu, knocking on doors to draft a resident registry and a subsequent evacuation plan.

Always quick to say why something can’t be done, instead of how it perhaps can be done, one of the excuses used by the indolent staff is that such a list would subject the city to liability. And this despite local governance’s prime legislative responsibility to the public being the protection of its health, safety and welfare.

Meanwhile, if the city’s bureaucratic bloated arteries may be hardening, the city population as noted keeps shrinking. Not to return are most of the families whose homes were devastated; their properties rebuilt as weekend party or trophy houses or pricey rehabs in disguise.

Though this is a city quick to hire consultants to do any heavy lifting, friends, while ignoring qualified locals, or just to distract and ultimately disappoint residents, such as the current performing arts center study.

To think those funds could instead be used for the drafting of a Disaster Registry. And maybe also for an expanded and revitalized senior center as part of a reimagined library expansion, lending some hope for a more communal city.

A Malibu where one could look forward to growing old. Instead of the fear of being forgotten in the next disaster.