Emergency: Neighborhood Safety

“Emergency preparedness” often inspires thoughts of emergency 72-hour kits, food storage,and maybe an underground shelter or two. People who are more involved with it know thatit means much more--it means knowing what disasters could occur in their area,understanding the damage and danger they cause, and preparing by having plans andpracticing.Few, however, think that emergency preparedness does not have to be an individual orfamilial pursuit; in many cases, real emergency preparedness starts with individuals andthen expands to encompass whole communities. When people band together and planahead, they can use one another’s strengths to benefit the whole neighborhood, thusmaking it more likely that everyone will survive and even thrive during a disaster.In an emergency, it is very likely that communities or even cities could be on their own fordays or weeks. Winter storms, for instance, have been known to completely isolate towns;and since the weather was so bad, there was no way for the government or relief teams toget in there and help the citizens. In order to prevent this sort of situation from turning intoa tragedy, it is important that people begin to get to know each other and get to know eachother’s strengths.It would be very difficult for one person to have every skill they might need in a disaster.For instance, someone could be a skilled EMT with extensive medical training might not bethe most talented electrician. But both of these skills can be vital in an emergency. Whencommunities come together, they are able to use everyone’s talents, skills, and careers forthe good of the neighborhood.However, while this sounds like a great idea, many people wonder how to begin. Theanswer to this question is actually pretty simple: start meeting neighbors. Become familiarwith the people who live two doors down or just around the corner. People will find itdifficult to trust one another and work together during a disaster if they don’t even knowone another.Once people are casual acquaintances, they should try exchanging phone numbers andother important details. Know who works late, who has infants or children with specialneeds, and who has children home alone after school. Knowing these details will help notonly in a disaster, but could also prove life-saving during normal occurrences.This is perhaps the most important step, since building trust and beginning to work togetheron a daily basis is key when it comes to working together smoothly during a disaster. Aftergetting to know neighbors, the next big step to neighborhood preparedness is actuallyorganizing the forces of the community.If there is no neighborhood council or civic association, it is a little more difficult to get theball rolling when it comes to neighborhood disaster preparedness. In that case, it only takesone concerned citizen to start talking to other neighbors, community leaders, andmerchants and religious leaders. It only takes a handful of volunteers to get started when itcomes to emergency preparedness!If an association already exists, then it is much easier to prepare a community for disaster.Work with the current members of the organization: bring up the issue of preparedness atthe next meeting to generate interest and concern. Once enough people are interested inemergency preparedness, all that’s left to do is start educating and organizing.As most emergency preparedness gurus realize, knowledge is the key to survival when itcomes to disasters. If people don’t know what they’re up against, they don’t know what toexpect, what supplies to buy, or what drills to practice. Each member of the communityshould be responsible for this part.Everyone should know what natural disasters (and man-made disasters) their area issusceptible to, and how to combat those dangers. In order to provide general awareness,town or neighborhood councils can also have local police or firemen speak at neighborhoodmeetings.

Another aspect of emergency preparedness that each individual home should take care ofby themselves is having an emergency kit. These kits should contain food, water, and firstaid generally speaking; and they should also be personalized with any necessarymedications, photocopies of important documents like birth certificates or Social Securitycards, and any other items the family might need.However, when it comes to bigger worries, like medical care, communications (both withinand outside of the neighborhood), or crime, that is when the community of a neighborhoodreally comes into play. Not every person needs to know how to properly treat a complexfracture or needs to know how to operate a multiband radio as long as a few others in thecommunity understand these things. Not everyone has to have a water purifier (though thatwould be ideal), or needs to have emergency training like police officers do. It’s unrealisticto expect each person to have all these skills and more.With proper organization, however, neighborhoods can find out which families can help witheach aspect of coping with disaster. Not to mention the added benefit of having someonenext door who might know what to do in case of a particular disaster, just in case oneforgets.When whole communities understand what to do, this also instills a sense of confidence intoindividual members. When people realize that they don’t have to depend solely onthemselves for survival skills, and when they are able to trust the people around them,everyone becomes much more secure when it comes to dealing with disasters.However, even when responsibilities are meted out and people understand what to do inspecific disasters, the community’s work is not done. People must continually refresh theirmemory when it comes to disaster preparedness. Remember--the more someone practicesan action, the more likely they are to remember it in times of stress.Neighborhood councils should consider holding emergency preparedness classes dealingwith different situations and disasters. And as the awareness of disasters grows, so will theneed to further organize the emergency plans. People should be continually considering andupdating their evacuation plan and other drills in order to accommodate new members ofthe neighborhood, and other variables.Although getting the whole neighborhood involved in emergency preparedness is probablynot something most people would think about when they consider getting ready for adisaster, it is very important and can save lives. When whole neighborhoods work together,everyone benefits from their neighbors’ skill and talents and it creates a network of trust, sopeople don’t have to worry about unnecessary concerns when they need to be worryingabout survival in the face of disaster.