How to prepare for an emergency
Take these steps to ensure you are ready when disaster strikes
You never know when an accident may occur. Being prepared, either at the workplace or in the home is key to not only coming through such events in one piece, but being able to better handle what comes after the fire is out, the waters recede and the snow stops falling.
“Being prepared at an individual and family level helps you be able to cope with circumstances that aren’t usual,” says Len MacCharles, deputy chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA). “You can’t always call 911, especially if it (an event) is widespread. There are only so many resources and a lot of demand on emergency services.
“Part of our goal in being prepared is so you’re less likely to need that immediate assistance and it allows emergency services to focus on those who really need assistance right now.”
One key bit of preparation is to have a 72-hour emergency kit, MacCharles says. This kit can help endure a period where immediate access to services might not be possible (MacCharles recalls a May snowstorm in the mid-1980s that dumped several feet of snow on the city and “it paralyzed the city for a fair bit of time”).
THE KIT
The kit should include four litres of water per person per day, at least three days of food that won’t spoil, a flashlight with fresh batteries, a first-aid kit, prescription medication and even things easy to overlook like a whistle and copies of important documents.
“One of the questions we ask during Emergency Preparedness Week is, ‘Who depends on you in 72?’” says MacCharles, who commanded emergency response during the 2011 Slave Lake fire. “You might have to take care of your pets, your parents who may be elderly — what are their needs? What if the pharmacies are closed?”
The “it can’t happen here” mentality is easy to fall into, but MacCharles points out how last month’s fertilizer plant fire in West, Texas, or the Slave Lake fire, or a sudden blizzard can suspend regular life in an instant.
“At Slave Lake, when we were trying to get people back into their homes, one challenge was industry and commercial businesses weren’t open — the Sobeys wasn’t open,” he says. “What do you do then?”
THE PLAN
CEMA has created a Household Emergency Action Plan booklet. The booklet can be used to record important phone numbers and includes tips for dealing with events ranging from storms to flu outbreaks.
MacCharles says beyond insurance, small businesses can help themselves by preparing for how to get back into business afterward. He recommends keeping a list of stock-supplier contacts off-site to help with restocking a store after a disaster and perhaps having a generator handy to keep the business operating if the power goes out.
And, of course, having an evacuation plan and practicing it is vital, whether it’s a home or a business.
At events such as Disaster Alley recently held at McMahon Stadium, CEMA distributes “Important Documents” bags. MacCharles says these bags should be kept outside of the home — a friend’s or relative’s house, for example — and contain copies of documents you might need after a fire or disaster, such as a passport, insurance papers, doctor and vet contact information, recent photos of family members and even a USB drive containing electronic ver- sions of these and other documents.
Copies of CEMA’s Household Emergency Action Plan are available for download at Calgary.ca/cema, where you’ll also find instructions for creating a 72-hour emergency kit. A plain language version of the plan is also available there or call 311. Community groups can also call 311 to arrange for CEMA to give presentations.