DID YOU KNOW?
While assembling an emergency kit involves expenses, creating a family emergency plan, staying informed about potential risks, and making community connections are all FREE, as well as essential steps towards emergency preparedness. So, if there was another step to add in the emergency preparedness process, it would be:
- Know Your Neighbours and Make Community Connections.
CONNECTED COMMUNITIES
Connected Communities are Resilient Communities. In fact, research has shown that knowing your neighbours and having strong community connections are crucial components of emergency preparedness, and enhances community resilience, especially after an emergency or disaster.
THE “VITAL SIX”
To help PEOPLE and ORGANIZATIONS with emergency preparedness planning and fostering the concept of Knowing Your Neighbours and Making Community Connections, here are some bits and pieces from the “VITAL SIX” tool and its P.O.M.P.E.E. framework to consider:
- PEOPLE
- ORGANIZATIONS
- MEASURABLES (THINGS THAT ARE MEASURABLE)
- PROCEDURES (PROTOCOLS/STEPS)
- EQUIPMENT (MATERIALS & INFRASTRUCTURE)
- ENVIRONMENT (PHYSICAL & MENTAL)
PEOPLE
- Are there family members with special needs? It’s vital to consider family members with special needs when crafting your emergency preparedness plan. Thinking about their unique requirements now can make a significant difference during an emergency.
- What skills and experience do your family members, friends, neighbours, and co-workers have that would be of value during an emergency or disaster?
- What ORGANIZATIONS do your family members, friends, neighbours, and co-workers belong to or work for etc. that would be of value during an emergency or disaster?
ORGANIZATIONS
- What organizations or municipalities are within and around your community that would be of value during an emergency or disaster?
- Does your community have a nearby fire service? Unincorporated communities, such as the Township of Miscampbell, do not have a fire service. Also, many fire services across Canada are facing a staffing crisis.
- Does your community have a nearby paramedic service? Many paramedic services across Canada are also facing a staffing crisis.
- Does your community have a nearby police service?
- Does your community have a public works department nearby?
- Does your community have grocery stores nearby that stock items you would require?
- Does your community have a hardware store nearby that would have essential supplies such as dewatering pumps, hoses, and sandbags, etc.?
- Does your community have contractors nearby that would have industrial dewatering pumps, hoses, generators, and heavy equipment etc.?
MEASURABLES (THINGS THAT ARE MEASURABLE)
- Is your emergency kit stocked with all the basic essential supplies? Note: Check your emergency kit twice a year for expired food items etc.
- Is your vehicle’s gas/fuel tank full?
- What is the weather forecast, as well as the long term forecast?
- What is the wind direction and wind speed?
- If you and your family were ordered to evacuate your community, how long do you anticipate it would take?
- If you and your family were ordered to evacuate your community, how many potential evacuation routes are there? Note: It also depends on what direction you would need to go.
It’s a recurring reality that numerous communities across Canada face significant gaps in their emergency preparedness. Often, a lack of sufficient resources, internal capacity, and dedicated funding leaves communities inadequately prepared for emergencies.
According to Public Safety Canada, disasters in Canada are increasing in frequency and severity across our country.
- Disaster losses are likely to increase into the foreseeable future as a result of: climate change, critical infrastructure interdependence, and shifting demographics.
- The impacts of climate change are already being felt across Canada increasing the frequency in intensity of hazards, such as floods, wildfires, drought, extreme heat, storms, melting per frost, coastal erosion, and, in northern Canada damage to seasonal ice roads.
- These hazards pose a significant risk to communities, individual health and well-being, the economy, and the natural environment.
- Additionally, many indigenous communities have been identified as being the most vulnerable to climate change due to their remote and coastal locations, and lack of access to Emergency Management (EM) services.
Don’t miss next week’s Safety Tidbits Column! I’ll be sharing some more bits and pieces from the “VITAL SIX” tool and its P.O.M.P.E.E. framework.
Safety—it starts with you.
