September was FEMA’s Disaster Preparedness Month.
This year’s theme was “Preparedness Starts at Home” placing an emphasis on individual and family emergency preparation and response.
Know your risks. However, I just moved to the Central Coast from the San Joaquin Valley on June 30th and began my new position as the Disaster Resiliency, Planning, and Policy Advisor on July 1st. While I’d previously visited all three counties (San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura) on vacation – I wasn’t very familiar with their local hazards. But now that I live and work here, these are now my hazards.
To familiarize myself with the potential risks of my home and workplace, I visited the California of Emergency Services (CalOES) website and utilized their MyHazards tool to get a snapshot of my local area’s dangers. Simply type in your address and receive a summary of the risk of earthquake, flood, fire, and tsunami. While there are other natural disaster outcomes, this tool aims to help Californians reduce their personal risk due to the most common challenges in the state. A mitigation checklist to help reduce injuries in and around the home is also provided. Not every item applied to me, but I found it helpful to see the kinds of things I could do to safeguard my home and/or workspace. This summary can be printed for your reference.
Now that I was aware of my risks, I needed to develop a more detailed emergency plan of action including putting together an emergency supply kit.
I’ll talk more about those items in another post, but for folks who are ready to be ready – FEMA and most local county emergency offices have templates and checklists to help you develop both a plan and a kit. I’ll list a few examples below including links to Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) programs which can help you learn more about actions you can take to protect yourself, your family, and your community in the event that first responders are delayed.
And if you’re interested – like me! – in more information about disaster and emergency management training and education, FEMA’s National Disaster and Emergency Management University (NDEMU) offers online and in-person curriculum for professional development and volunteers including Disaster Service Workers (DSWs).
Whether you’re a long-time resident or just freshly arrived – disasters can strike and turn into emergencies quite fast. The part of the Central Coast I live in experienced two fires back to back in the first three months I moved here (Madre Fire and Gifford Fire). And while September has now given way to October, additional potential disasters may still occur. Are you prepared for the next emergency? If not, how will you prepare? See the below resources for some area specific information and guidance.
If you need assistance finding your local emergency office or disaster preparedness resources – feel free to contact me at lilthaox@ucanr.edu.
RESOURCES for DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
Emergency Plan Templates: Visit PrepareSLO, ReadySBC, or ReadyVenturaCounty for templates to help you develop an emergency plan. Whether you’re required to shelter in place or evacuate, does everyone have and understand their roles and responsibilities?
Emergency Supply Kits or Go-Bags: FEMA’s “Build a Kit” provides a checklist of items you should consider including in your go-bags.
CERT Programs in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties.