Emergency preparedness flyer - Essay Example

Running Head: Emergency Preparedness Flyer Emergency Preparedness Flyer [Institute’s Emergency Preparedness Flyer In today's day and age, disaster can strike swiftly and without a shred of warning. According to ‘the British Charity Oxfam’ (Kehayan & Napoli, 2005), the rate of natural disasters around the world has approximately quadrupled in the last 20 years and with the growing number of terrorist attacks ever since 9/11, the chances that one might find themselves in such a situation is at an all time high.

The Community program would get people to realize this and be prepared accordingly. The program would aim to instill, within the general population, a sense of awareness and knowledge, so that they may prepare themselves to face any type of disaster that could occur. The primary focus would be to draw up a community preparedness plan, the default thing to do in any foreseeable emergency in which certain things have to be taken into account. Firstly, know what to expect. Educating oneself about the kind of disaster along with some information regarding their location would help prepare them accordingly.

Populations living near the coastline should prepare for a tsunami whereas those living near or on a fault line should know what to do in case of an earthquake. Coming up with an emergency plan related to the specific disaster would be much more highly effective than a generic plan encompassing all that could go wrong (Kehayan & Napoli, 2005). Ironically, the very technology that has been put in place to help during a calamity has also put us at a disadvantage, primarily due to our dependency upon it.

Today's masses live in a very different world compared to an earlier generation, when cross community communications were an intrinsic part of life and as such are much more ill prepared when things such as electricity, internet, gas, and water, which they are so dependent upon, are suddenly unavailable. The best way to counter this dependency is to increase cross-communal interactions by having monthly emergency drills where everyone from a community takes part. Thus, encouraging neighborhoods to increase their interaction with each other so that during an emergency, people, especially children, already have an existing relation with the people they are likely to come across.

The community should prepare to lessen the impact of any predictable disaster, such as the construction of underground bunkers for a community situated in an area prone in terms of tornados. The more people know beforehand, the less frantic they would feel when confronting a disaster and with that in mind, the program would cater to all the possible preventative measures that could be taken to ensure minimum casualties during any disaster. Immediately after a major disaster, it is highly unlikely that emergency response services would be able to reach everyone in need sufficiently; therefore, it is a high recommendation of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (2011) to prepare to take self- care for the first 72 hours.

Basic medical procedures, such as CPR and bandaging would be part of the learning in case of a need to prevent excessive blood loss following an injury. A grab bag with essential items, such as “medicines, clean water, flashlights, Swiss army knife, blankets, money, and non-perishable food items” (Kehayan & Napoli, 2005) should be a part of the households along with strong sturdy shoes and directions to the nearest safe zones for evacuation, assigned beforehand thus increasing logistical awareness.

The community program would prepare the individuals to be an asset during such a time so that they would have a calming influence upon others who might be in shock. It is only by preparation that someone can be of use to themselves and others. The program would prepare them to know exactly what to do in that situation, in order to save one’s life and others as well. References Kehayan, V. A., Napoli, J. C. (2005). Resiliency in the Face of Disaster and Terrorism: 10 Things to Do to Survive.

Personhood Press. San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. (2011). Are You Prepared? Retrieved on June 08, 2011: http://72hours.org/build_kit.html