One of the things I heard from the leaders of FEMA was: the citizens need to be ready to help themselves. Not just that, but specifically stated: the federal government is not going to be there for you right away. Unfortunately, I only heard this for about a week before it was abandoned.
You can spend all you want on CERTs, exercises, equipment, etc, etc.
You can spend fractions of that money on an information campaign and have the citizenry help themselves.
If you tell the people ahead of time, "be prepared to take care of yourself for..." then the chance of failure is lessened. Hurricane Katrina is a good example. The perception is that no one was there fast enough to help. Yet, devestating floods in Oregon/Washinton in 2008 that were just as bad were handled just fine with minimal on-the-ground FEMA operations. Why? Because there is a fundamental difference in "be prepared to help yourself".
If the citizens aren't prepared, then the government will always fail. You'll always be too late in other people's eyes. You'll always be doing too little for someone.
Comments (20)
While I agree with the sentiment, actually getting people to *do* something is the greatest challenge in citizen preparedness. How much of the success of the OR/WA flood response can be attributed to citizen preparedness vs. building more resilient communities and having local emergency management and responders who know what they are doing? I do agree, however, that we need more/a better preparedness campaign.
I agree... "Be Prepared" starts locally. In the examples like the OR/WA flood response, the awareness that "it has happened before here..." helps with that preparedness message - both for the communicator and the recipient.
Readiness and resilience programs are great things. I firmly believe in them. I have been VERY active with CERT in our community (local and state levels), have taken resilience courses, and so on. I think that the recent Ready.gov commercials are good, and I see some good results, but the vast majority of Americans think (wrongly) that if they get into trouble, then they only need call 9-1-1. We need to keep on pushing the issue of self-reliance in the faces of the complacent. I recently spoke with some college students. Most of them have no idea how to take care of themselves (bottom tier of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) if they had to for more than a day or so. It scares the you-know-what out of me. We need to keep reinforcing the preparedness message. I think a 30 second commercial that shows what someone's kit looks like would be a good idea. Ready.gov has the suggested lists, but if all they hear is the get a kit mantra and aren't literally shown what goes in one on video, then they likely won't even bother to go to the website to find out.
I agree the preparedness message needs reinforcing. One way to accomplish that would be to challange college and high school students to create a preparedness video with a step by step dramatic illustration of what a preapredness kit is used for during a "disaster" they created for the video. It could be serious or humerous. This could be presented to their peers or used as a commercial locally. It would be a great learning tool for the producers and the message would be presented in a format their peers would most likely repond to.
I think it goes beyond a "kit" or "preparedness". It goes to the statement made senior officials of FEMA: The federal government is not going to be there right away, you need to be aware of that and be prepared to wait a few days.
I am also an extremely firm believer that the civilian responses to WA/OR, other midwest flooding incidents, and the recent floods in VT/NH/CT were the result of resiliant communities, not citizen preparedness. Resiliant communities don't scream about being forgotten when they are cut off by destroyed bridges. They don't sit on their lawns until they get FEMA trailers and credit cards. They don't cause Congressional inquiries about why a bridge (levy) failed.
Resiliant communities sandbag their own streets, put together church and non-religous shelters and meals for the displaced, they help neighbors clean up after the receeding floodwaters.
Right now a large segment of the population expects FEMA to be there within hours to pick them up off their couch and take them somewhere safe, feed them, clothe them and keep them clean. That's a huge financial, logistical, readiness and manpower cost to do that kind of thing.
1) FEMA will never be there within hours to pick you up off your couch... etc, etc.
2) Since FEMA wasn't there, "FEMA screwed up". "FEMA forgot about me." "Congressional hearings!"
(I don't have any affiliation with Discovery, but if you watch "American Loggers" from a couple seasons ago you'll see the big storm/floods that hit WA/OR and one of the employees has a 30 second speech saying how no one is complaining about "where's my FEMA trailer?" He says they take care of themselves and each other "up here.")
Initial response to Vt. flooding by the state with an emergency declaration stabilized the situation. There were 13 sanctioned communities that prevented citizens of having the option to purchase flood insurance. As has been past practice jurisdictions are offered the option to participate in the flood management program and its citizens to purchase flood insurance with retroactive coverage to the incident. (home owners are required to forever maintain flood insurance on these properties or lose eligibility in any future incidents)
Resilience is measured not by a single event but over time to events.
Very interesting article was put out today regarding citizen preparedness. Here is the link:
http://www.emergencymgmt.com/emergency-blogs/disaster-zone/funding-for-citizen-preparedness-120311.html?elq=e49c8b18ce784831b1b23059df435b41
Any comments regarding the article?
Any further funding should be based on a competitive grant program similar to Project Impact. This should reduce required funding levels and provide more bang of taxpayer's buck.
Disaster survivors are first responders, we morn the victims.
Yes be prepared, Join 'CERT' at least it is a good start and just think you might even bring a friend with you. Working together for a culture of preparedness WOW what a concept !!
The hardest part of getting the population to be prepared is that first, we have to change the populations mindset. We live in a time of "one mouse click" gratification. People are used to instant results and expect others to do the work for them. In light of this, every shred of self reliance has been stripped from the minds of most of the population.
Take camping for example. Gone are the days of a simple tent, blanket, and a few light simple items... these days people drag along so many useless creature comforts that camping is nothing more than an extension of their homes. (reminds me of George Carlin's bit on "no place for my stuff")
How about we get high schools to teach classes in wilderness survival and first aid. Make it a required course, and at least give people a chance to learn, and more important, know that they can live with minimal conveniences. Build their self confidence and their self reliance.
I agree with creativeogre on this one. There is preparedness for temporary discomfort (such as losing power for a few hours), but there is also preparedness for major events (ie. losing power for several weeks). The latter is more along the lines of what we're talking about. Sure we need to be prepared for the smaller events, but people across the country are aware that there is a need for preparing. I think this may differ some geographically (urban / rural) in terms of expected level of discomfort and how far people will go to prepare, but in essence people are preparing for the scenarios that they think are likely.
One of the challenges we have is that in an urban environment, we haven't seen major infrastructure failures for extended periods of time. Sure we have with Katrina, California earthquakes, Ike, etc. But those events and the lessons learned are generally limited to the geographic areas that were severely impacted. It is difficult to share a preparedness message that connects without the context of "it has happened before right here, or somewhere very similar to here"
As a result of five decades of preparedness, relief, rescue, and national security operations, worldwide, I have found that you can generally persuade no more than 30 percent of the people to help themselves, or prepare to help themselves, without an immediate and real fear factor; i.e. a natural or man-made disaster "looking-them-in-the-face." For this reason, I suggest that federal grants be partly withheld from cities and other areas unless and until the citizens/ communities have met certain preparedness standards for the future threats most probable for their area(s).
The message, and all derivatives of "Be Prepared", as well as hyperlinks to where one can get information to better prepare themselves, should constantly be sent out/readily seen either through radio, commericals, websites, email signature blocks, etc.
I would add that grocery stores and/or hardware stores should put up signs for the customers about buying extra batteries, or buying extra cans of food, etc.
I believe that more lines of communication need to be developed at the local level. Counties and cities should be encouraged to use their knowledge of Homeowners associations, or real estate professionals to contact local communities and encourage preparation, or serve as contact points before and during emergencies.
Too many people look at emergency preparedness as a huge daunting requirement that would be difficult to accomplish, therefor they do little or nothing. I have approached this problem from the basics, not the complete package. I tell citizens to start with the basics to be able to survive for the first 72 hours after a major event. Do what is necessary for you and your family stay alive or at least stabilize your condition. Basics; food, water, shelter, first aid, communications, and a plan for your family. This approach doesn't require you to buy six weeks of MRE's, or store large amounts of water. How much will it take to survive 72 hours? How will your family know where to meet? How can your family communicate to let all the members know that they are safe or not? A basic plan that is discussed by your family is better than a multi-volume document that has not discussed. The longest journey starts with the first steps. The plan makes for the first steps.
I have been teaching disaster preparedness to the community through American Red Cross for more than 30 years. The issue of how "daunting" it is to prepare comes up often, especially in lower income areas. A number of years ago Chevron came up with a "Disaster Supplies Calendar" handout that was later incorporated as an appendix in an older Red Cross workbook called "Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities". I think the workbook can still be downloaded as a PDF file. My region has chosen to copy the appendix that contains the calendar and use it as an independent handout for presentations. It is an example of how to break preparedness into easy to do steps. The calendar contains action steps such as strapping water heaters, securing top heavy furniture as well as a short list of items to add to a disaster supplies kit.
The workbook is on the old prepare.org website. The calendar does not seem to be available for viewing on the website but there is a link that allows you to download the entire workbook including the resources. You should be able to pull up the calendar once you have downloaded the workbook.
http://www.prepare.org/home/old-prepareorg.html
Um, isn't "be prepared" the Boy Scout motto? They are CERT. I think they kind of own that one...how about, "PLAN" or "PLAN IT" or "PLAN OR DIE", yeah harsh, but so is the reality of the catastrophe scenario.
Be Prepared.
That's the motto of the Boy Scouts.
"Be prepared for what?" someone once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting,
"Why, for any old thing." said Baden-Powell.
The training you receive in your troop will help you live up to the Scout motto. When someone has an accident, you are prepared because of your first aid instruction. Because of lifesaving practice, you might be able to save a nonswimmer who has fallen into deep water.
But Baden-Powell wasn't thinking just of being ready for emergencies. His idea was that all Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and to give happiness to other people. He wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body for any struggles, and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges might lie ahead.
Be prepared for life - to live happily and without regret, knowing that you have done your best. That's what the Scout motto means.
That's why I've tried to clarify myself a couple times.
The statement I recommend is: The American people need to be prepared to take care of themselves for a couple days following a disaster. Period. End of statement.
I heard a couple very high ranking FEMA administration people say this and even heard them state that sentance at Congressional hearings.
I'm not advocating a messaging campaign for people to stockpile water, duct tape and tamiflu pills.
I'd campaign a "The federal government needs a few days to get to a disaster. You're on your own! Remember the Katrina!" (I'm living in San Antonio right now, pardon the Alamo reference.)
Believe it or not, yes, senior FEMA administration people did advocate this line for a week or two in public. Yeah, it didn't catch on like a wildfire in Texas (or California).
This is a much bigger issue than emergency preparendness and resiliant communities. We, unfortunately, live in a time where the idea of community has moved from the neighborhood to the internet. Attendance in all sorts of social organizations is down, from bowling leagues to churches. These types of groups are the backbone of our social networks - not Facebook (although I am guilty here as well) - and your next door neighbors are the ones who will be around in a time of need, not your cyber neighbors. AND we live where for decades government has been taking responsibility for more and more people and in more and more areas of our lives. Is it any wonder people assume that this is one more place where government should step in? I believe one of the reasons MO/WA/VT have been so successful in the responses is because they are communities of generations living in one area, generally don't take a lot of government aid, and look out for one another. I don't really have many solutions, unfortunately, but I do know that more CERT training, more pack-a-kit messages, while good, won't make that much of a difference. I DO appreciate the message that you WILL be on your own with your local community, so be prepared. We have to stop thinking of government as our savior - it isn't.
One of the number one things that communties can do to be prepared, is to have list of companies, agencies, and individual with there skill sets that they can call on to get things started. One of the things that myself and friends noticed when the katrina Hurricane was no one could do anything to help themselves. I think that we need to go back to what i learned in school. We had Wood Shop to teach us how to use and fix things with wood. Metal shop to teach us how to work with metal. Drafting to teach us how to draw out simple plans and read blueprints, and Auto shop to teach about cars and how they work.
I think the one of the number one things we can teach our children is how to build, fix, and maintain a home. That way they will be prepared to pitch in and repair and replace the damage caused by the evemt. Just look at all that happens in the midwest after a tornado and how the people jump right in to take care of the damage