The more people who are prepared when a disaster strikes, the better off everyone will be. Imagine living in a place where every single person had a well-stocked food storage supply, and enough survival gear to live comfortably for several months. If everyone was prepared during an emergency, grocery stores wouldn’t be bombarded, people wouldn’t be inclined to attack others, and the community would be able to pick itself back up quickly and efficiently.
Preparedness isn’t about preparing only your family for a crisis, but also being prepared as a community. It is a very good idea to be involved in emergency preparation for your neighborhood, city, and even state.
Talk to your local HOA, or community leaders. Find out if they have any sort of emergency action plan in place, and if not, suggest that they formulate one. One good idea for every neighborhood to implement is to give every home in the area a list of things to put into a 72-hour kit, and a list of food amounts needed to keep your family fed for at least 3 months. Another easy thing to distribute to each home is one red strip of fabric, and one green strip of fabric, with a note explaining that in an emergency situation, if a family is in need of assistance (whether it be medical, food, or items), they should tie the red strip onto their door handle. If everyone in the household is fine and taken care of, the green strip of fabric should be affixed to the door handle. This will make it very easy for any rescue personnel to target any homes that may need immediate assistance.
Other simple ways to get involved include:
*Contacting your city council to find out if they have addressed any preparedness issues
*Contacting city libraries or community centers to suggest that they have seminars on preparedness
*Visiting local preparedness stores and asking if they would host a seminar for the community
*Search online for upcoming events that focus on being ready for an emergency
Many people today do not see a need to be prepared, but community involvement may be the key to educating others. Take precautions to ensure that everyone you care about is ready to withstand any situation.
Contributed by Emma Green
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My family and I were liinvg in New York City during 9/11. What happened is history, but we were totally unprepared for it. Fortunately, we were more than a mile from Ground Zero. We immediately began taking precautions in case another disaster targeted where we lived. If we had a copy of The Disaster Preparedness Handbook we would have had a terrific guide in terms of what to do. For example, we had no plan or place to meet up if we and our small child were separated. We didn’t have food, water, protective equipment for emergencies, or a plan for how to leave the City (except to drive as we always did). We certainly hadn’t considered any kind of disaster possibilities so we hadn’t reviewed the fourteen basic human needs and how to provide for them. The book has great coverage, including the concerns of the elderly, the disabled, children, woman who are pregnant, and people with special needs. We all hope nothing will ever go wrong, but it’s good to be prepared in case something does. This is definitely the book to have. Its price is reasonable and it has lots of color photos for illustration.