The first thing that comes to mind for most people when they hear "Emergency Preparedness" is people walking across a desolated wasteland with guns, knifes, and backpacks; or someone in the woods eating bugs and starting fires by rubbing 2 sticks together. While that is a remote (very, very, extremely unlikely, and very low probability scenario) possibility, the more real scenario's are the ones you hear about regularly in the area where you live (tornado's, flooding, snow and ice storms). Emergency Preparedness is simply being prepared for an emergency. Emergency response (Police, Fire department, EMT's) usually show up relatively quickly when you are one of the few emergency's they have to respond to; but when everyone in an area the size of a small town, major city, state or region are all experiencing the same emergency at the same time it's a vastly different story (Louisiana, has storms all the time but Katrina hit and how many people were left waiting for help?, How many times have you heard about winter storms paralyzing parts of Oklahoma, or the tornado's in Kansas), when these things happened to someone else they aren't really emergency's; but when it happens to you it's a different story.  It's not about social collapse, the apocalypse or the rapture; just being prepared for probable situations under extreme circumstances.

 

example:

     You are at work, the mild snow storm that was forecast (1/2 - 1 inch) has already dumped 3 inches of sleet & snow on top of the inch that was already there and now; the new forecast is for at least 5 inches more.  The roads are already congested, the temperature is dropping and people are told to stay off the streets due to ice.  The ice has caused some power lines to break and the roads are imposable to drive on; salt trucks and plows are not able to keep up. Typical Ohio weather! 

A). If you are running a business under any circumstances you have a few things to do:

 

1)  Make sure the employees that stayed are cared for (food, water, a safe place to wait out the storm).

2)  If your business is one of those in the area experiencing the power outage, do you have backup power? Have you taken the proper precautions to backup any data?

3)  Do you have a process in place addressing compensation for employees who don't leave, or the ones who call off because of the weather?

 

B). If you are one of the people who left work trying to get home but didn't make it, what are you going to do?

 

1)  Do you have a way to stay warm until you get home?

 

2)  Can you eat drink and use the restroom until you get home?

 

3)  What's your plan for attracting or communicating with help?

 

4)  Do you have a backup to pick up and keep an eye on your children and or pets until you get home? 

 

 

Emergency preparedness

Basic steps to be proactive in preparing for emergencies, disasters (natural and manmade) and unexpected or foreseeable situations to increase survivability or at least lessen the impact.

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