Kings Park Civic Association

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS IN KINGS PARK

Not IF, but WHEN…..

Emergencies and disasters can strike quickly and without warning. You may be at work while your family is at home or school. You may have to remain in your home while basic services – power, water, gas, telephones – are cut off, or you may have to evacuate your home or even your neighborhood in case of peril. Fire, police, health, and other local agencies will not be able to reach everyone right away.  Your health and safety, and that of your family – even your pets – will be up to you to protect. In Kings Park, the Kings Park Civic Association will try to advise and assist you to prepare in advance for emergencies and disasters, and provide you with information and links for emergency preparedness.

Playing Around the Big One

A thoughtful note regarding emergency preparedness, from the blog MostlyCajun.com.

Lots of driving time, a fact of life in my job, equates to a lot of thinking time. So I was listening to the news about Haiti and the stories coming out of there and it triggered memories of my own experiences right here on our shores.

Earthquakes aren’t preceded by a week of NOAA predictions, but there are parallels, mostly having to do with things we take for granted. Our ability to handle tragedy is generally spread out. Getting the h**l out of Dodge. Or Lake Charles. Or Houston. On a normal day, driving north or east or west from home to some arbitrary goal a few hundred miles in any direction is not a hassle at all. That’s because not everybody is doing it on the same day. When I decided to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Rita, a trip that normally took forty-five minutes took four hours. I-45 north out of Houston became the world’s biggest and longest parking lot ahead of an announced evacuation. On a normal day, getting out of Houston isn’t that big a deal. But when they tell the whole city to go… Well, on a normal day you won’t find gas stations running out of gas. Ever. But put the whole city of Houston on the road… You can walk into any grocery store right now and buy a week’s worth of bottled water and canned goods for your family. Try that when a hurricane is a hundred and fifty miles from the coast. Make your list for anything you need to get by. Tent? Camp stove and fuel? Flashlight and batteries? You can buy it today. There’s plenty. Let the clouds start building on the horizon. Too late!

Haiti found out the real story about hospitals. Sure, we’re not Haiti. Our hospitals are the most advanced in the world. If you get to a hospital with a pulse in recent memory, truly miraculous things can happen. That’s ONE person. Roll a school bus over, though, and a regional hospital’s miracles get spread thin very quick. Make the problem something a bit whacky, like, say, bad burns, and while one or two or a few bad burn cases can be handled, the really top-of-the-line facilities fill up quick. Police? They’re half an hour away under the best of conditions from my front door. Drop a few trees on the roads, throw a couple of rescue incidents, and you’ll quickly find that the entire working shift of your local law enforcement is tied up across town. Same thing for the fire department.

So what am I saying here? Have a plan. If you’re staying in place, make sure you have the stuff on hand to take care of yourself and your family for at least a week. It was five days before the first food distributions were taking place here after Hurricane Rita. Fortunately we had our own non-government resources in place, but that was possible because driving eighty miles in either direction got you out of the hurricane footprint.

Make sure you can take care of yourself and those for whom you are responsible. It’s what you’re supposed to do.

WHAT TO DO?

1. Inform yourself about the kinds of hazards and potential emergencies that might affect you, your family, or your neighborhood. Learn about community response plans, evacuation plans at work, school, and elsewhere. Find out about warning systems and how information may be provided.

2. Make a plan with your family, including contact points, where to meet, family communications, and safe places. Make sure everyone knows escape routes from your home in case of fire or other emergency. Plan for those with special needs, and for pets. Know how to turn off utilities, and how to use fire extinguishers. Install and check smoke alarms. Learn first aid. Be sure you have adequate insurance coverage, and an inventory of your possessions. Keep important documents in a safe location. AND: Practice using your plan.

3. Assemble a basic kit of disaster supplies in a portable container. Consider keeping emergency supplies in your vehicle, and where you work. We will post lists of suggested items for kits on this website for your consideration, but only you know what you, and your family needs, may be.