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"Six
Simple Steps"
for Implementing a Community Emergency Plan
by Don Farkas
September
18, 2003
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From
the Public Safety Committee of the
Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council
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The Public Safety Committee of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood
Council (BABC) is currently seeking persons living in the Bel Air-Beverly
Crest area communities of the Santa Monica Mountains, who would
like to become a "Disaster Preparedness Coordinator" for their neighborhood.
Persons who become a Disaster Preparedness Coordinator may select
as large or small an area of responsibility, as they choose. The
Disaster Preparedness Coordinators are to serve as a liaison between
each community and the BABC Public Safety Committee for implementing
the BABC Community Emergency Plan, which is a volunteer based, disaster
preparedness initiative.
The BABC Community Emergency Plan is designed to be a simple and
economical framework to help communities organize themselves to
deal with foreseeable natural disasters such as major earthquakes,
fires, and landslides. The basic organization and communications
preparations called for under the Plan could also be useful in the
event of man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks. The Plan
was specifically designed with an eye towards balancing competing
interests by using some simple emergency measures which would maximize
usefulness by saving valuable time in the event of a major disaster,
while minimizing the amount of preparatory time and expense required
for implementing them.
The Community Emergency Plan is intended for use by members of an
entire community, and not just for each individual or separate household,
and does not provide for any community stockpiling of food, water,
or shelter supplies. Under the Plan, individual households are to
be responsible for maintaining their own personal necessities.
Emergency service providers and public officials have frequently
advised that it would be a wise precaution for each individual and
household to have an emergency plan in case of a disaster. Such
personal household plans, it is said, should include a means to
allow family members to communicate through having out-of-state
contacts, have agreed upon alternative meeting places, and provide
for maintaining sufficient supplies of water, food, shelter and
sanitary supplies, medicines, cash in small denominations, emergency
tools, can openers, fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, extra eyeglasses,
and other emergency items.
In addition to encouraging each separate household to have their
own emergency plans, the BABC Public Safety Committee is attempting
to put in place a community-wide plan for organizing a more effective,
coordinated community response in the event of a major disaster,
if normal emergency services were to become unavailable or significantly
delayed.
A summary of the Community Emergency Plan can be seen on the Los
Angeles Community Policing website at:
Community
Emergency Plan Summary
(
a copy may be requested from BABC )
Briefly
described, the BABC Community Emergency Plan calls for each participating
community to select a Disaster Preparedness Coordinator who would
be the designated liaison for the group and who would be responsible
for completing as much as possible of a simple, three page questionnaire/checklist
called "Annual Community Assessment of Disaster Preparedness." Each
community would also arrange for at least one pre-determined location
to serve as a centralized meeting place for residents in the event
of a disaster. It is the goal of the BABC Community Emergency Response
Plan that every person, household, utility, and building in the
Bel Air-Beverly Crest area would be checked for injuries and hazards
within one hour after a major disaster such as a large earthquake.
Although each community participating in the Community Emergency
Plan can choose, if they desire, to purchase some recommended community-owned
emergency tools (such as large metal levers, wooden support blocks
and wedges, walkie-talkie radios, bull horns, first- aid and medical
equipment, etc.) each community "Command Post" would, at minimum,
be responsible for storing an annually updated contact list roster
of volunteer, local, licensed health care providers such as doctors,
dentists, and nurses, as well as any local radio operators, and
persons who have taken the Los Angeles Fire Department's (LAFD's)
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training.
CERT training is a 17 1/2 hour course taught by the LAFD for civilians
wishing to know more about disaster response. CERT classes are conducted
over a seven week period, in 2 1/2 hour classes, held once per week.
In addition to CERT training, LAFD also sponsors a group of volunteer,
licensed short wave (HAM) radio operators, who have agreed to help
provide emergency communications in the event of a disaster, called
the Auxiliary Communications Services (ACS).
Persons who are interested in finding out more about ACS may view
their website at:
www.lafd.org/acs.htm
Measures
intended to help maintain communications are regarded as an important
part of the BABC Community Emergency Plan. In the event that telephone
services were to become temporarily interrupted after a disaster,
it might be very important for a community to have the ability to
establish alternative means of communication. This is because many
of the serious problems that might occur after a disaster, such
as large fires, ruptured gas or water mains, and fallen electrical
lines, for example, might require mitigation measures far beyond
the capability of community volunteers. Battery powered, two-way
"walkie-talkie" radios, CB, or shortwave bandwidth radios, might
also be useful for maintaining local communications, especially
if the community had pre-selected and advertised the frequencies
or channels to be used, and had agreed on the standard times when
radio broadcasts are to be monitored.
According to Don Farkas, Chairman of the BABC Public Safety Committee,
it is not intended that the role of a community's Disaster Preparedness
Coordinator should be difficult or very time consuming. Since all
of the written materials have already been prepared in photocopy
ready form by the BABC Public Safety Committee, it is estimated
that the minimum time commitment for the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator
would be less than eight hours spread out over a few months time.
The recommended "Six Simple Steps" for being a Disaster Preparedness
Coordinator are listed below:
SIX
SIMPLE STEPS FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS COORDINATORS:
IMPLEMENTING THE BABC COMMUNITY EMERGENCY PLAN
Step
#1: Choose a location for your community's Command Central and
any supplemental Command Posts.
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A
convenient, centralized, open area situated away from hazards
and road traffic, would probably be the best location (e.g.,
a parking lot of a local commercial building, a cul de sac street,
a public park, a large private yard, etc.) |
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Schools
are probably not a very good location to use because if the
school is in session after a disaster, school authorities might
have to seal off the campus and keep the area clear for possible
release of students to parents, emergency vehicles, or busses. |
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If
there is no better place available in a community, then just
a designated sidewalk area in front of a specific landmark or
a volunteer's house could do the job. |
Step #2: Copies of the "Community Emergency Plan Summary"
and a response post card (which have been prepared by BABC but may
also be custom modified if desired) should be distributed to each
household within the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator's area.
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The
addresses of the Command Central and/or Command Post locations
are to be listed on the first page of the "Community Emergency
Plan Summary", and the return address is to be pre-indicated
on the response post card. |
Step #3: As soon as most of the response post cards that
are going to be returned, have been returned, (i.e., probably within
approximately 8 weeks), a roster of local CERT trained members,
radio operators, and licensed health care providers should be made
and distributed to all of the community's Command Central/Command
Post locations.
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Volunteers
listed on the emergency roster should be listed in sequential
address order. |
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The
roster can also be made by just cutting and pasting together
the names and information listed on the returned response postcards
and then having it photocopied. |
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The
community's volunteer roster is intended for use in case of
emergency after a disaster, and not for any other purpose. |
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The
community's emergency roster should be kept in a safe, outdoor
place known to participating volunteers, where it would be easily
accessible in the event of a disaster, at each of the Command
Central and Command Post locations. |
Step #4: Optionally, other residents can be consulted to
discuss whether there are any potential needs facing the community
that could be addressed by realistically attainable measures that
could help make the community safer.
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For
example, it could be determined if there are any useful kinds
of emergency tools or medical equipment that might be privately
owned but made available for use by the community under certain
conditions, or purchased jointly by the community and stored
in an accessible place for use in the event of a disaster. |
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It
should be determined how to best make sure that residents know
what to do so that every person, structure, or utility in the
community would be safely checked within one hour after a potential
disaster. |
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As
many Command Post locations as possible should be established
to reach the optimal goal of having one Command Post for every
25 to 50 households, but at least one Command Post for every
approximately 150 households, minimum. |
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If
assistance is needed in your community to help organize and
schedule the LAFD's 17-½ hour "CERT" training, it can be sought
from the Public Safety Committee by calling (310) 472-4822. |
Step #5: A simple, three page, "Annual Review of Community
Disaster Preparedness" form should be completed and returned to
the address provided.
Step #6: Bask in the quiet satisfaction of knowing that you,
in your role as Disaster Preparedness Coordinator, have performed
a unique and valuable public service that could one day end up being
of life and death importance to someone in your community.
For more information about becoming a Disaster Preparedness Coordinator
for your community, please contact:
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Don Farkas
BABC Public Safety Committee Chairman
Email: donfarkas@belairmail.com
Phone - (310) 472-4822
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