Disaster Preparedness

Rule number one when it comes to disaster management – preparation beats the hell out of managing in the crisis.  Now is the perfect time to start preparing while there is no critical emergency or natural disaster.  When it comes to disaster preparedness I think about the Family, the Dwelling, the Environment, Critical Stuff and the Plan. 

When it comes to the family, consider both your family and your client’s, immediate and extended.  The same considerations and recommendations made for your client must also be considered for yourself and your family. Why? You cannot do an effective job of supporting your own client, if you are feeling unsettled at home.  Is everyone evacuating or are some planning to stay?  Is anyone mobility or travel challenged? Do we have anyone residing in an assisted living facility? Are we comfortable with the emergency or evacuation plans of the assisted living facility? Now is the time to understand those plans. If you live in areas that are prone to natural disasters (hurricanes, tornados, flooding etc.), the readiness plans of those facilities should be taken into consideration when determining long-term care for those in need.  This avoids you later having to jeopardize yourself or other family members from making a decision during an actual crisis to try and recover a loved one.  Has the family plan included the family pets? Even with the best of intentions the environmental conditions may render the area unreachable. During natural disasters, many municipalities often issue mandatory curfews so even an attempt rescue during restricted hours may make you subject to arrest.

When it comes to natural disasters like hurricanes, most dwellings are compromised by wind, water or flying projectiles.  Have you or your client installed permanent or temporary storm shutters, outer storm doors and windows? Is the dwelling itself secure (brick verses prefabricated homes or mobile homes etc.)? Is the structure itself strong enough to withstand hurricane force winds? If your concern is the potential for flooding does the property have a detention pond designed to temporarily hold water to assist in flood control, as it slowly drains elsewhere? Consider lowering the water levels in the swimming pool to allow it to catch any drainage runoff. Avoid lowering the levels too much as you may damage both the pool and the equipment. Don’t overly chlorinate the pool. If the power goes out, you should not put chlorine in the pool until the power is back on. Have you placed sand bags around the base of the structure to help divert moving water around the structure?

Is the area itself below sea level?  For example, the average elevation of the City of New Orleans is between one and two feet below sea level. Some of the Eastern parts of New Orleans are as much as 7 feet below sea level. Is the home, office or other building of concern in a low-lying area or floodplain? Is the area heavily wooded with the potential for falling trees?

What is the plan for protecting important legal papers, family heirlooms, photos etc.? Will they be stored in plastic bags or containers in a safe deposit box or are you storing them in plastic bags and containers and taking them with you? Remember even if the plan is to store them in safe deposit box at the bank, what is the elevation of the banks structure, and is it prone to the same conditions you are evacuating from? If you are leaving them behind on an elevated level of the structure are they protected by a theft and/or fire rated safe? What is your plan to secure any firearms and ammo, work tools, business equipment etc.?

As a trusted advisor, your personal decisions or recommendations to your client to stay or evacuate should not require governmental permission.  While you may consider outside council in your decision-making process, it should not require a mayor, governor or weather man for you to consider evacuating during a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.

Also depending on the dwelling and potentially effected geography a Category 2 storm may produce enough water in some areas to cause catastrophic flooding.  So, everyone’s individual situations should determine their individual, family or client’s tactics. If told to evacuate do so immediately.  The longer you wait, the fewer options you have, supplies are reduced and travel is restricted and traffic often becomes a slow crawl, further adding to your stress and anxiety. Also evacuating does not always mean leaving the state.

Sometimes it just means going to a part of the city or county that is of higher elevation or protected by physical barriers. In states like Florida some of the modern high schools are designed from initial construction to be evacuation centers. I know first-hand from one of my family members who decided to evacuate to County identified shelter (modern high school) where classrooms were converted into sleeping quarters, the local municipal animal control shelters staffed the pet center within the shelter, and shelter residents had the ability to visit their pets 24 hours a day and they had makeshift runs for family members to walk their dogs. The shelter also served three hot meals a day, and was staffed by the local sheriff’s department and national guard for assistance if required. We have come a long way since hurricane Katrina. If you or your client’s municipality and local school board is not this forward thinking, now is the time to plant those seeds and make “go-forward” plans.

Whether the decision is made to evacuate or hunker down and ride the storm out, here are some of my top preparedness tips:     

Consider purchasing a backup generator for the house in advance of an emergency. Then make sure you keep a minimum of seven days fuel on hand.  Even if you are evacuating, when you return there is no guarantee on how long it will take for power to be restored. One of the most important keys to reducing anxiety and depression following a major event, is getting the family’s life back to normalcy. If you have a Transfer Switch installed in the dwelling before an emergency occurs, in the event of an outage you can safely and efficiently run and connect your backup generator via the transfer switch, particularly handy when you want to power multiple rooms or appliances.

Also remember backup generators need to be run outside of the home, not inside of the dwelling.

While the above considerations are not all inclusive they will give you a good start on helping you enhance your family’s or client’s safety and reduce exposure during an emergency or natural disaster.

Disaster PreparednessBy: Mark “Six” James

For additional safety tips visit www.pantherprotectionservices.com.  Mark “Six” James is Founder and Executive Director of Panther Protection Services, LLC.  He is an internationally published author, keynote speaker, security consultant to educational institutions and frequent contributor to a number of print, broadcast and online media, and the author of a number of security, firearm and protection publications.  Panther Protection Services is a full-service protection agency focusing on Risk and Crisis Mitigation, Protective Services, Self-Defense Training, and Firearm Instruction.

The post Disaster Preparedness appeared first on Circuit Magazine.