August 2003

 

Emergency Preparedness and C.E.R.T.S.
Art Schneider, SchneiderA@missouri.edu

Think about emergency preparedness. What comes to mind? Accidents? Thunderstorms? Tornadoes? Terrorism?

Emergency preparedness encompasses all these concerns, but it also extends to epidemics, such as SARS, the West Nile virus, and flu. And it includes follow-up work after the immediacy of an emergency passes.

Recently, a Missouri County Emergency Operations Center director noted that people tend to push emergency preparedness to the back of their minds. Yet when serious events occur locally, it comes to the forefront. As he noted, “We have to change the mindset!”

Focusing on emergency preparedness is especially difficult in times of economic uncertainty and budget constraints. The easiest thing to do is to bury one’s head in the sand and “pretend” and “hope” that nothing happens. Most of the time, thankfully, that is the case. But what if a disaster does strike? Being unprepared can add stress and seriously worsen the situation.

There are some things we can do in our own households. Do you have a smoke or carbon monoxide detector that operates when the electricity is off? Do you know how to turn the water off if a line breaks? Do you know where the gas line enters and how to shut it off? Do you have emergency medications ready? Do you have a “safe” room with a phone (land line or cellular) available to call outside and check on relatives, friends, and neighbors without having to leave the room? If you are building a new house or putting on an addition, have you considered a safe room as part of the construction? It seems our ancestors were far wiser; many built storm cellars.

With the Worldwide Web, citizens have access to a lot of information. Be careful. There are all sorts of sellers on-line. Go to a reputable source.

One barrier I find is websites that are very heavy on jargon and needlessly prolific in acronyms. Missouri’s State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) website is one of these. It really is not designed for the typical citizen, but for people who work in public safety and emergency preparedness.

The Red Cross has timely information at its web site. Just type ”Red Cross” in your browser’s URL address line or an Internet engine search and it will automatically bring up Red Cross sites.

A very helpful website is the Extension Disaster Education Network. Its acronym is E.D.E.N.

E.D.E.N.'s keyword list alone has 323 topic areas arranged alphabetically! The diversity of topics and the credentials of the people and organizations on the website are highly credible.

If one does an Internet search using either EDEN or E.D.E.N., it will be unsuccessful. Searching with the term “Extension Disaster”—yes, I also can joke about that search term myself—will bring greater success. Putting “Extension Disaster” on the URL address line made it one of the top selections. Using the MSN Search engine, it was among the top three sites. Under Google it was the second choice. Under Yahoo it was the top choice. With Metacrawler it was number two. Alta Vista was the only one of five search engines that did not list

E.D.E.N. among the top ten. However, most of these sites included links to E.D.E.N.'s home page.

Another way to be informed and obtain help in a major long-term disaster is to join a C.E.R.T., an acronym for Community Emergency Response Team. It is ideal for neighborhood groups, such as Neighborhood Watch groups, businesses, churches, and schools. The course is 40 hours, but does not have to be taken all at once.

Sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the training program educates citizens to assist overwhelmed first responders who are not able to respond to everyone in the first 72 hours. This training provides the skills to care for each other in the event of a disaster (and everyday emergencies). Contact your county emergency preparedness director to discuss a class in your area. Check the telephone directory or call your County Commission to locate your local emergency preparedness office.