It's Emergency Preparedness Week from May 3 to 9.
This year's theme is In it Together and how social connection in your community can strengthen your readiness for an emergency.
Get connected
The first step to preparedness through social connection is building strong relationships within your community. Community can take many forms, from neighbours, faith groups and sports teams to people with shared cultures or interests.
Start by introducing yourself to someone you don’t know in your neighbourhood. Share a favourite recipe with a member of your book club. Run an errand for an elder who needs extra help. Offer to pick up mail for a neighbour that’s out of town.
These simple steps establish trust and reciprocity before the stress of an emergency. Ask yourself, are you more likely to help someone you know or someone you’ve never met?
Get educated
If you’re prepared for an emergency, you will be better able to support others and you will be an example for them to follow. Three basic steps are:
- Know the hazards in your community. Hazards vary from region to region. Knowing which ones are near you will guide how you prepare.
- Gather your supplies. When an emergency happens, you may need to stay at home with an emergency kit or leave immediately with a grab-and-go bag. Check out basic supply lists. Add items based on your specific needs, and remember to include emergency supplies for your pets.
- Make your home emergency plan. An emergency plan says how you and the people you live with will respond during an emergency. Having a home emergency plan will help you stay calm, connected, focused and safe.
Get organized
Share how you’re preparing and invite others into the process by talking about how you can work together and share the responsibility. Topics of conversation can include:
- listing the hazards in your area
- asking what people have done to prepare for them
- exploring the potential for a joint emergency plan with people’s contact information, an inventory of their skills and resources, and a list of people who may need extra help
PreparedBC’s Neighbourhood Guide has fill-in-the-blank sections to track the details, as well as prompting questions to support further discussion.
