Emergency Preparedness Plan and Why Do You Need It?
**Quick Solution: Here’s a video that outlines exactly what to do called Survive in Place. I think it’s a pretty complete resource.
An emergency preparedness plan outlines what you and your family should do when a disaster strikes. What disasters should you prepare against? This, of course, depends on where you live. Someone in the Midwest has little need to prepare against a tsunami, but both those on the coast and inland should prepare for the risk of flooding regardless of whether the source is sea water surging or a flooding river. Your emergency preparedness plan must be tailored to the risks of your particular environment.
There are areas of the emergency preparedness plan that are the same for everyone. Preparing for long term power outages is critical, whether the root cause is a tornado, snow storm or a hurricane. Preparing for a lack of supply is essential, whether the cause is a snowstorm, civil unrest or a wildfire blocking the main road into town. You need enough food, water, medical supplies and means of staying warm to stay put if you cannot go anywhere. Use emergency preparedness checklists to determine what you need to get now before disaster strikes.
Your emergency preparedness plan must also take into account the needs of your family. Most emergency plans assume that all parties involved are adults or children who can follow instructions. If you have young children or babies, your emergency supplies must include food they can eat, diapers or pull-ups and other items necessary for their care. Those with ongoing medical needs need to be factored into the preparedness plan. Do you have a means of storing refrigerated insulin for a diabetic if the power goes out? Do you have extra inhalers if getting to the store is impossible or the supply chain breaks down? An emergency preparedness plan has checklists for common medical supplies to stock up on and long lasting versions of those supplies to consider acquiring.
Disaster planning is essential for families with dependents. Families should assign a responsible, able-bodied adult to each dependant. If disaster strikes, who gets the baby from daycare? If an emergency arises, who gets the kids from school? Who will take care of Mom, who is bed-ridden? Do you get Dad from the nursing home if there is an emergency or leave him there?
Your emergency plan should also provide contingencies. Where do you go if the house burns down? Where do you meet up if you get separated? If Mom is stuck on the road, how can Dad get to the kids at school? If you planned on relying on well water after a storm and the pump is broken, how else will you get water? If you expected to use your generator for power and it is stolen, how else will you keep warm?
An emergency preparedness plan needs to define when you should leave, along with contingency plans for leaving the area. How severe must a hurricane be before you leave town? How close must a wildfire be before you will evacuate? You need to know in advance the routes to take. If the main roads are blocked, what are safe alternate routes? Then plan for contingencies. If you planned on getting out of the city when disaster strikes and the car brakes down, how else can you get to your destination? If your fall back position of meeting at the city hall or high school is not an option, where else do you go? Use an emergency plan’s check list of items to pack in a bug-out bag that can be grabbed when you need to flee.
If you want to know more and have exact supplies laid out, I suggest you click here to find out more.
Recent Natural Disasters and Crisis During an Emergency
I don’t know about you, but i’m pretty worried about the possibility and inevitability of natural disasters. Just today I read there was a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City. I’m realizing a disaster natural or not, can strike just about any where any time with no warning.
In March 11, 2011 an earthquake having a magnitude of 8.9 hit Japan thereby activating a tsunami alert in Japan’s Pacific Coast and 20 other countries. It was the largest tsunami catastrophe and worst experienced earthquake in Japan and this caused global concern on the possibility of radiation leakage in the air after explosion of Japan’s two nuclear plants located in Fukushima.
In January 13, 2010 Haiti was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 leading to the death of over 50,000 people!! The small country of Haiti tends to experience deadly and severe natural calamities especially hurricanes.
In September 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne surged the Caribbean country leading to flooding plus landslides that killed around 2,500 people and displaced others.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of U.S causing destruction to beachfronts in Louisiana and Mississippia and also displaced millions of people.
The list goes on, but I didn’t look up all the dates for the Phuket tsunami, Sri Lanka, and not to mention the recent Ohio Tornados.
So let’s familiarize ourselves with some disaster knowledge. The term natural disasters refers to effects or consequences of different natural hazardous occurrence such as eruption, earthquake and others that have catastrophic consequences. Generally, when a natural disaster occurs, it leads to catastrophic results for all living things present in the environment. Natural disasters may occur as a result of natural activities, changes in atmospheric conditions or majorly due to earth changes.
There are so many types of disasters that can occur. There are earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, floods, hail, tsunami, fires, and even volcanos (depending where you live)
So I’ve seen the images and watched the news about looting, desperate people trying to get supplies, empty market shelfs, and even stranded people. Your neighborhood can turn into a dangerous place real quick giving the circumstances. Everything is good while it’s good, but it can turn into a dog eat dog world once you introduce some panic.
So granted if you don’t know when it’s coming or where, we should all take just a day out of our lives to make an emergency preparation plan to protect ourselves and the ones we love.
Here’s some more info about getting prepared. Click Here
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Emergency Preparedness Plan information coming soon.