Alaska is preparing an emergency food supply for communities across the state. The idea is to provide 40,000 people with three meals a day for one week.
There are over 730,000 people in Alaska. The majority of our food products, 95% in fact, come from out of state sources. There are some places of the state that are only reachable by plane or by boat. However, the Alaska Department of Homeland Security started a new program that will provide 40,000 people in the state with food for a week in the case of a state wide emergency.
Public information officer with the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Jeremy Zidek says there’s a vendor that has been selected, VF Grace, that is the supplier of the food. However, the department is now in the process of finding a storage facility.
“The food that we’ve identified is freeze dried food. It’s light, it’s easily transportable anywhere in the state, it has a very good shelf life and it’s really easy to prepare. It’s not the type of food that you would think grandma’s going to be cooking up but in an emergency situation it will due, it’s nutritious and it has a fairly good flavor profile.”
State executive director for the US Department of agriculture Farm Service Agency in Alaska Danny Consenstein says Alaska used to be much more self-sufficient. He says in 1955, the state produced 55% of its own food. Today, that number is down to five percent. Consentein says that lack of subsistence and self-reliance in the food industry is what worries him about an emergency.
“Look at our food system as a whole, sort of the big picture of where our food comes from, how we get it and does our food system work for us in Alaska, I think there’s lots of reasons why we need to fix our food system and emergency side is one of those reasons.”
Alaska’s emergency preparedness system is unusual in that the responsibility starts with the individual, moves up to the community level and then state level. Zidek says he understands that 40,000 is far below the number of people in the state. He says at some point the people of Alaska have to take some responsibility in their own preparedness.
“The purpose of this food really isn’t to feed everybody. It’s still incumbent on all Alaskans to prepare for themselves and that includes having emergency food and water, this is really a bridge capability for those folks how have prepared but for whatever reason their food stocks were destroyed in the disaster, or they cannot get resupplied over a long period and the state can step in to bridge that gap until those services are repaired.”
Power, water, communications and food are the four major areas that the state wants secure emergency precautions. Alaska has generators that can be moved to where ever they are needed, there are water purification systems and there are emergency mobile communications systems in place. However, because food has a shelf life and can’t just lay in wait, it was a little more complicated to come up with a food plan.
Zidek says the state only plans for seven days worth of food because the idea is the state, or in worst case scenario the federal government, will have the disaster under control or at least have found a new way to provide supplies.
“However, there are other deep water ports that can be set up. There’s other deep water ports, there’s Whittier and Valdez that could be used, Seward. There’s the Alcan Highway, we could set up an air bridge to get supplies up here. There’s a lot of different alternatives to take a look at and we can activate those. We have really good relationships with the military and private industry and with the federal government here in Alaska because we do have a lot of disasters that impact these things and we have to work through these problems on a regular basis.”
The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Cooperative Extension Service is working to create the Alaskan Community Emergency Food Cache System. This system aims to increase the ability of Alaskan communities to feed themselves in the event of the normal food supply running out. The Alaska Food Policy Council that aims to connect all Alaskans with a sturdy supply of food.
Consentein says these groups are just the beginning. For Alaska to become truly prepared for an emergency resulting in the state being cut off from the lower 48, the people should buy more Alaskan grown food.