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Emergency Preparedness

jkwilliams

By jkwilliams
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jkwilliams Grand Master

jkwilliams

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As I mentioned, I have been called as the Emergency Preparedness coordinator for my ward. I've been looking through the resources on the church's web site, but was wondering if anyone here has any experience in setting up an emergency preparedness program. If so, what resources and ideas have you found helpful?

Thanks in advance. It's weird to have a calling, as it's been 6 years since my last one (volunteer Spanish translator at the county free medical clinic). 

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bluebell Grand Master

bluebell

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Our EPC in our ward (davis county Utah) does most of his stuff through the city.  Like, our neighborhood as block captains (which I got roped into doing) and we have paperwork and some things that we have to pass out to every household in our assigned area but it is a city initiative and not from the church.  The church in my neighborhood has been designated as a gathering place, etc. in the event of an emergency, but again, that designation was made/approved by the city.  Everything is coordinated through them.

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jkwilliams Grand Master

jkwilliams

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14 minutes ago, bluebell said:

Our EPC in our ward (davis county Utah) does most of his stuff through the city.  Like, our neighborhood as block captains (which I got roped into doing) and we have paperwork and some things that we have to pass out to every household in our assigned area but it is a city initiative and not from the church.  The church in my neighborhood has been designated as a gathering place, etc. in the event of an emergency, but again, that designation was made/approved by the city.  Everything is coordinated through them.

I'm in Davis County, too. That is a great suggestion to talk to the city and coordinate with them. 

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Calm Grand Master

Calm

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Only thing I know is they passed out a kit that has laminated signs "we're okay" or "we need help" and a couple of other things...also small flags (basically bandanas) of red, yellow, and green to signify the same thing.  In the packet are contact numbers and names and some other stuff I need to pay attention to.  I was much more on top of this before the last five years. 

Getting everyone signed up to receive emergency alerts/texts on their cell phones would be a good ward project, imo.

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bsjkki Grand Master

bsjkki

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I just attended a Stake primary presidents meeting and most wards did not have a written/taught emergency plan. My emergency prep guy had come to ward council and we had outlined what to do as a primary in case of a fire, tornado, active shooter. He then came to teacher council and trained the teachers. It was super helpful.

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bluebell Grand Master

bluebell

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17 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

I just attended a Stake primary presidents meeting and most wards did not have a written/taught emergency plan. My emergency prep guy had come to ward council and we had outlined what to do as a primary in case of a fire, tornado, active shooter. He then came to teacher council and trained the teachers. It was super helpful.

That would probably be a really good thing for all church's to do.

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Jeanne Grand Master

Jeanne

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Just now, The Nehor said:

I have three callings. One I like, one I sort of like but the demands are high, and one I hope to be released from. This is not one of them which is a shame. I think it would be fun.

You would probably be real good at this job.  Question:  Why do you and/or others take jobs/callings that you don't like...?

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Stargazer Grand Master

Stargazer

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20 hours ago, jkwilliams said:

As I mentioned, I have been called as the Emergency Preparedness coordinator for my ward. I've been looking through the resources on the church's web site, but was wondering if anyone here has any experience in setting up an emergency preparedness program. If so, what resources and ideas have you found helpful?

Thanks in advance. It's weird to have a calling, as it's been 6 years since my last one (volunteer Spanish translator at the county free medical clinic). 

In Utah the set of likely emergencies would seem to be smaller than in some other places.  Mainly severe weather I guess? When I lived in Western Washington, we had occasional severe weather, but our emergency prep mainly focused around earthquakes and volcanoes.  Because the stake was more spread out than most stakes are in Utah, we were also concerned with emergency communications because a quake could cause massive dropout of phone service (both copper line and cell service).  So a part of the stake's emergency preparedness was communications.  Every ward had at least five members who had ham radio licenses, and we did a weekly "net call" where anyone who wanted could participate -- mainly to test radios and keep up skills, because most of us were not true ham hobbyists, and only got qualified to be in on emergency commo.  I was one of three stake specialists, and had that calling for close to 10 years.  And we had an annual stake emergency communications exercise, where the stake specialists would set up a station with full communications capability, including getting in contact via ham radio with the Bishops Storehouse (which was 50 miles away), and each ward's hams would pretend to be having an emergency.  It was actually rather fun.  We only activated once for real, and that was because of a severe weather event -- a really bad windstorm which had much of the county out of electrical power due to power lines down (because of all the trees that got knocked over).

So, I don't know if it would be useful in your circumstances, but you might want to examine if doing anything like that might be of some use.  Probably not, if you're one of those urban wards or stakes where everyone lives within a half mile of everyone else.

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Traela Experienced

Traela

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At one point, we had a list of ward members with skills that would be useful in an emergency.  First aid obviously, but also things like ham radio and outdoor cooking.  I think the list also included those who had alternate heat and power sources and could take people in- our ward boundaries include a trailer park whose residents would be in real trouble quickly if we lost power in the winter.

 

Edited by Traela
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Rain Grand Master

Rain

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On 8/23/2018 at 8:28 AM, bluebell said:

Our EPC in our ward (davis county Utah) does most of his stuff through the city.  Like, our neighborhood as block captains (which I got roped into doing) and we have paperwork and some things that we have to pass out to every household in our assigned area but it is a city initiative and not from the church.  The church in my neighborhood has been designated as a gathering place, etc. in the event of an emergency, but again, that designation was made/approved by the city.  Everything is coordinated through them.

This is how Riverton was set up as well.

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bsjkki Grand Master

bsjkki

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Remind people to get renters insurance even if they don’t have much. My sons apartment burned down tonight. They and their pets are fine but they lost almost everything and are super poor college students. 

The need temporary housing and it is overwhelming.

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bluebell Grand Master

bluebell

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On 8/28/2018 at 11:41 PM, bsjkki said:

Remind people to get renters insurance even if they don’t have much. My sons apartment burned down tonight. They and their pets are fine but they lost almost everything and are super poor college students. 

The need temporary housing and it is overwhelming.

I'm so sorry bsjkki!  Most people aren't aware of how cheap renter's insurance is. I'm so glad everyone is o.k.  Where are they located?

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rongo Grand Master

rongo

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On 8/28/2018 at 6:47 AM, jkwilliams said:

So, the stake emergency preparedness guy came over and explained everything I have to do. Wow, this is going to be a lot of work, but it's something I can do and feel good about. 

Your daughter's experience in Houston with the flooding probably informs your attitude with this calling more than most others. For most of us, emergencies are vague abstractions. Until they aren't . . . 

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