Run a 1hr session re emergency preparedness at work? (recent flooding)

[Marthony]

Hello ants!

I'll try to keep this brief and not bog down in the details..!

I & many other co-workers in my area went through our first mandatory evacuation due to flooding on June 21. I was in 1 of 2 apartment buildings in Banff that were evacuated (no damage or losses, lucky!), and nearby Canmore had entire areas evacuated with several houses destroyed. Though a couple co-workers had their houses robbed, I don't know any one that lost their house or suffered worse.

Aside from evacuations the #1 highway was severed in a couple places locally, cutting us off from the East for 5 days - Calgary being the nearest city that direction. There were power & cell service failures for 1-2 days in my town and more in Canmore. Banff's two major supermarkets were bare of milk, bread, water & ground beef quite quickly.

Instead of getting into the fine print of my wife & my timeline I'll summarize that it really paid to be prepared, and though I made a couple mistakes I didn't pay for them due to luck. Lessons were learned and a revamp of some logistics is being planned. Notable plus - a wife that put together her emergency bag the night before at my request without calling me paranoid. =)

Now that things are back to normal in our area I can't help but wonder about running a 1 hour training session on preparedness, focusing on a 3-day BOB (though I'll call it an evacuation bag). The 500-person company I work for runs a Lunch & Learn program, and I expect after such events that such a session would be well attended.

I'm looking for some guidance/pointers on this. I'd look to keep this focused on evacuation logistics and what to put in such a bag. I'd try to represent myself as someone with a hobbyist level of knowledge, nothing resembling an 'expert'. This is accurate...I haven't put enough work into preparedness. I'd also be tempted to address basement storage and a couple other bits.

While I have some minor concerns about some tangent conversations and bringing a bit too much attention to myself, I feel that is a bit selfish compared to passing on some basic advice to help my co-workers the next time this happens.

What do you think please?

[2die4]

That sounds like a great idea. Sharing your knowledge with others ensures the "others" won't be knocking at your door when the S does hit the fan.

There are many ways of approaching the teaching aspect without coming off as a tinfoil hat wearer. I'm just listing a few.

1. Use the incident to show the importance of being ready.

2. If you want to go a more humorous route play off prepping as a means for getting ready for the Zombie apocalypse. If you're ready for zombies you're ready for anything.

3. Keep your anti government (if you have any) rants to yourself. When people mention the government system taking care of its Sheeple, a point to drive home is that they can't take care of all of them at once.

4. Show a dual purpose in preparing. If you're prepping for a flood or natural disaster you could use the same preps to help you when a financial SHTF event happens like losing ones job or suddenly becoming the household sole money earner.

[Marthony]

Indeed, one point I think I might make is that I may not be home..! One thing this scenario has taught me is that there's a strong chance that I'll be in a bug-out situation for the next large flood. I'd explain that they need to have their bases covered, and that it can be great when you're helped, but that it is risky to assume help will be available or communications functional.

Many communities in Alberta were and still are in a state of emergency. Bragg Creek & High River are almost destroyed, and the locals had little warning to get out. With such examples I don't expect any tin foil comments at all.

I may close the session with something like "if there is enough interest in another session we can cover zombies", but I think I'd try to stay on subject to keep tangent discussions down.

I've no anti-government sentiment, but there was another good example for not relying on government: the nearby town of Canmore had its helipad washed out, destroying 3 helicopters - that's 3 of 5 in our area..! Disasters can damage emergency response systems, plain & simple.

I think there are many purposes that can be listed for even just having a BOB. Reduced stress, more options in an emergency, and here's one for the community minded - it reduces the load on emergency responders.

I'd like to think that such a presentation has been done before...any thoughts on where to look for a copy/example/template?

[2die4]

http://emergency.cdc.gov/planning/ is probably a good starting point for you. I wouldn't solely rely on this site but a least give you some ideas and point you in the right direction in the google universe for more info.

[Marthony]

Thanks for the link.

I think I'll have to heavily tailor my presentation...we're a lot different than a large city. Our primary concerns are forest fires, floods, with train derailments a distant third. In addition, access routes are limited for East & West (none N/S), and the West can be cut off via mudslides relatively easily.

On the plus side, we've almost unlimited firewood & 'clean' river water..!