Being prepared best way to deal with disaster

TheWhig.com
April 30, 2015
Michael Lea

Journalists who covered the Ice Storm of 1998 may remember then mayor Gary Bennett holding a news conference on the very first day following the icy deluge, predicting it could be 24 hours before the city got back to normal.
 
No one knew at first just how bad it really was and how long the power was going to be off in some areas of the city and the surrounding area. People lived by flashlight or candlelight for days, huddling by the fireplace until, block by block, the city came alive again.
 
Next week is Emergency Preparedness Week and the city is promoting several initiatives to get local residents thinking about just how ready they are should the unforeseen happen again.
 
It may be almost 20 years since Kingston faced such a major city-wide crisis, but Scott Davis, the community emergency management co-ordinator for Kingston, still wants residents to be prepared.
 
On sunny days when all is quiet, he is the sole person in the city thinking full time about disasters.
 
But should that disaster happen, he would be backed up by the municipal control group, a committee pulled together to cope with the incident.
 
“I am not alone. I have lots of friends,” he laughed.
 
“I sleep well at night because I know we have a good plan in the city of Kingston. We have good resources in the community both internally and externally and a number of partners that can come together in the event of an emergency and assist us.”
 
But while the city is well prepared for an emergency, he isn’t so sure about its residents. He has no way of figuring out just how many people are ready to handle a disaster.
 
“We really don’t have any idea,” he said.
 
“That is a concern. I think it is important for people to be prepared to help them and their loved ones cope with whatever.”
 
People can’t expect to see a friendly police officer or firefighter show up at their door to help them get through the emergency, he stressed.
 
“In the event of a major disaster, what we see is the first responders going to the incident site. People are, in a sense, left to their own planning to look after themselves. All we can do is educate the residents how to prepare. Know the risks that are in your community.”
 
A major incident here could be weather related, such as a tornado or another ice storm. It could be the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals that forces an immediate evacuation of a wide area. It could be a major disruption of utilities that leaves people without power or water.
 
It doesn’t have to be a city-wide event to send people into emergency mode.
 
The December fire of 2013 may have only affected a relatively small area of the city, but it still forced people from their homes, in some cases for months.
 
Everyone should be prepared for a 72-hour window when normal services may not be available, Davis said.
 
That could mean having enough food and supplies to stay inside your home for that period, or it could mean being prepared to evacuate your home and live somewhere else for that period.
 
A “go bag,” a kit of essentials you will need that is ready at a moment’s notice, should be part of every home’s preparedness plan. That could include everything from medications to food for the dog.
 
If the power is out, you may not be able to access an ATM to get money to tide you over, so keeping some extra cash in your bag is always a smart idea.
 
The reliance on technology is a concern, he said. People need to have a radio on hand that doesn’t rely on electricity to operate so they can hear emergency messages should the power go out.
 
Everyone stays in touch via cellphone these days, but an emergency could disrupt the service, so people are advised to keep their texts or calls brief. Not only will that reduce bandwidth congestion, it will conserve vital battery power on your phone.
 
And it is always wise to hang on to at least one old phone in your house that doesn’t require electricity to operate.
 
When seeking urgent information, many people head straight for the Internet. But what do you do if your service provider is down? Having emergency information printed out already could also be a good part of your plan.
 
People have to know how to get in touch with their loved ones in an emergency, where to meet if they can’t get home and where to go if they have to evacuate, Davis said.
 
“We can only rely on education for people to understand what the concerns are.”
 
To remind people of some of the things they need to consider, the city is holding several special events to mark Emergency Preparedness Week.
 
There will be a display in Springer Market Square on Thursday, May 7, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., that will feature the Canadian Red Cross, city police, paramedics, the fire department, Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Public Health and the emergency management office.
 
If you want to be a front-line weather spotter, Environment Canada is holding a free CANWARN training session on Monday at the Isabel Turner branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library from 6 to 9 p.m. to help you spot and then report severe storm structures and cloud patterns. If you are interested in attending, you are asked to contact canwarn.ontario@ec.gc.ca.
 
Davis said he has been involved with CANWARN for the past four years and finds it an invaluable tool that lets people learn more about what to look for in the sky.
 
“When you look up in the skies and you see the clouds, you have got a better appreciation of what can potentially happen,” he said.
 
He recalled being at a soccer game with his daughter last fall and looking up to see threatening clouds.
 
“We have to go and we have to go now,” he remembers announcing.
 
People around him thought he was crazy, he said.
 
“Within five minutes, there was severe hail.”
 
If you want to test yourself to see how ready your household is for an emergency, you can take the online Get Ready quiz at www.CityofKingston.ca/GetInvolved. You could win a Red Cross disaster preparedness kit or a Get Ready Kingston pencil kit.
 
Emergency Management Ontario has its own quiz online at beprepared.emergencymanagementontario.ca/epquiz/.
 
You can also check out CityofKingston.ca/GetReady to get more information on possible emergencies.