Tag: The Time to Prepare The Ford Family Foundation Community Vitality

Mapping Your Neighborhood

Posted on by Julia Havens

When something happens, your most immediate source of support is the people living around you

Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience OPDRMany of us grew up in tight-knit neighborhoods, where everyone knew each other and the sense of community was strong. Those kinds of neighborhoods may not be as common today as they once were, but they can make a big difference in how, or how well, we all survive in the face of disaster.

When something happens, your most immediate source of support is the people living around you. A united neighborhood can help take care of the elderly and the young, can share food, and make sure everyone is warm.

Several communities in Oregon are rebuilding the traditional concept of neighborliness to create effective strategies for surviving a catastrophic event. In Bandon, Ashland, and in several other communities, the Map Your Neighborhood tool is getting a lot of attention.

Map Your Neighborhood is simple. People gather at a home in their neighborhood for a 90-minute meeting where they watch a video, learn the nine steps to take immediately following disaster (see “Resources,” below). They then make an inventory of people, pets, needs, skills and equipment, and finally, plan a team approach to help each other.

Bandon began using Map Your Neighborhood in 2010 as a way to organize residents and raise the awareness for disaster planning. Almost half the people in Bandon live in a tsunami inundation zone, and preparedness is getting new attention there in the face of increasing knowledge about the likelihood of a Cascadia Subduction Zone event.

“Most people don’t even want to think about the possibility of a tsunami,” says Bill Russell, co-founder with his wife, Joan, of the new BandonPrepares nonprofit group (www.banprep.org).

“The earthquake in Japan helped some, but not as much as I would have wished. People are just not anxious to talk about the possibility of a disaster.”

The group’s Preparedness Faire in September encouraged people to participate in Map Your Neighborhood. Interest in the program and in preparedness in general was high, Russell says. Of the 100 people who attended the fair, 40 signed up to help with BandonPrepares, and 30 signed up for the Certified Emergency Response Team training.

BandonPrepares is continuing its neighborhood mapping project, as well as other preparedness initiatives. The group organizes regular CERT sessions, sponsors first aid classes, and is exploring the idea of establishing survivable storage space for residents and area businesses.

“We can’t wait for help from the outside to reestablish business,” Russell says. “When the ground starts shaking, it’s too late to prepare.”

Resources to prepare your neighborhood

There are many resources available for people wishing to connect with their neighbors on preparedness.

FEMA offers the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program, which provides community groups with tools and preparedness training opportunities, including an educational module for community leaders called “Community Preparedness: Simple Activities for Everyone.” For more information, visit: the ready.gov website.

Map Your Neighborhood was developed by Washington state emergency managers, and has been adapted for use across the country. For information about how to establish the program in your area, contact Oregon’s Department of Geology and Mineral Industries at (971) 673-1555.

At the first Map Your Neighborhood meeting, participants will:

  • Learn the “9 Steps to Take Immediately Following a Disaster” to secure your home and to protect your neighborhood.
  • Identify the Skills and Equipment each neighbor has that would be useful in an effective disaster response. Knowing which neighbors have supplies and skills helps your disaster response be timely, and allows everyone to contribute in a meaningful way.
  • Create a neighborhood map identifying the locations of natural gas and propane tanks.
  • Create a contact list that helps identify those with specific needs such as elderly, disabled, or children who may be home alone.
  • Work together as a team to evaluate your neighborhood during the first hour following a disaster and take action.

 

Article reprinted with permission from Community Vitality Publication, Spring 2014, © 2014 The Ford Family Foundation. For the full Community Vitality edition of ”The Time to Prepare”, visit http://www.community-vitality.org/Spring2014TimeToPrepare.html

Don’t Count on the Government

Posted on by Julia Havens

Douglas County’s emergency manager says be prepared to take care of yourselves and your neighbors; there won’t be enough emergency personnel to help everyone

Oregon Partnership for Disaster Resilience OPDR
Part of Wayne Stinson’s job is to talk to the public about disaster preparedness. His message at a recent meeting on the southern Oregon coast was simple: “You need to be ready, because the government won’t be there for you.”

It brought one audience member to tears.

“It sounds harsh, but it’s the reality,” says Stinson, the emergency manager for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. “There aren’t enough police, firefighters, EMTs and public works folks to help. There’s just not enough of them.”

Stinson’s words are echoed by the national emergency management community, especially in the aftermath of recent events hitting American communities — Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina.

In the case of a major disaster, even the most prepared government agencies will likely be overwhelmed with requests for help. Stinson recommends that people always be prepared for an event. It could come as a severe winter storm, a particularly devastating wildfire, or a catastrophic train derailment. But the worst-case scenario in our area is getting more and more attention as researchers pin down the science — a 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami when the Cascadia fault off the Pacific coast lets go.

People just shut down

“When I start thinking about Cascadia, it concerns me greatly,” Stinson says. It is such a great threat with such potentially devastating consequences, that he finds people often just don’t want to think about it.

“When I start talking about Cascadia, it’s so overwhelming that people just shut down. They don’t know where to start. It’s a little bit like: How do you eat an elephant?”

It’s a metaphor used by others when talking about the “Big One.” And the answer, of course, is one bite at a time.

To help get your household prepared, Stinson recommends starting small. Instead of buying four cans of soup, buy six. Don’t wait until your prescription medicines run out; make a practice of refilling them as soon as the prescription allows. Make sure you have a heat source you can use if the power goes out. Develop a plan so all family members know what to do and where to meet up in case of an emergency. Request a copy of the “Family Emergency Plan,” offered here; it provides a place to record such information.

Specific readiness tips are available from a number of organizations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency operates a Ready Campaign website, www.ready.gov, that offers a host of resources for personal preparedness. Click here to learn what’s available.

The American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) offers preparedness classes and publishes the “Together We Prepare Oregon” booklet. Red Cross guidelines recommend that families be prepared to rely solely on themselves for at least three days. As people in recent natural disasters discovered, it could be much longer than that.

“You need to think through the process,” Stinson says. “You don’t want to just survive, but survive in comfort.”

Help your community

On a larger level, people can help their communities by making disaster preparedness a priority. “We need to bring it to a level where political and government leaders are concerned,” Stinson says. “The key to a community being prepared is that leaders need to embrace the necessity of preparation.”

But it all comes down to individual preparation and a realistic view of what to expect — and what not to expect — during a catastrophic event. It’s the biggest thing Stinson deals with when talking with community members about preparation.

“There’s a huge expectation out there about everything we’ll be able to do for them. We will not be there,” he says emphatically.

“We don’t have enough resources.

“The only thing that will work is if citizens prepare, and there are lots of small steps you can take to get there.”

Reprinted with permission from Community Vitality, Spring 2014, © 2014 The Ford Family Foundation. For the full Community Vitality edition of  ”The Time to Prepare”, visit http://www.community-vitality.org/Spring2014TimeToPrepare.html

 

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About the Author: Wayne Stinson is the Emergency Manager for Douglas County. He has held this position for the past 23 years. An Oregon Native, Wayne has spent most of his years in Southern Oregon and Northern California. Wayne is married to his wife, Kimberly of 17 years, has two daughters, Demi and Brenna. Wayne enjoys most outdoor recreation, and is a “want-to-be” rancher due to his daughters 4-H projects.