Emergency Preparedness for Apartment Communities: A Neighborhood Disaster Survival Guide (Survival Guide Series)

By Virginia S Nicols

You recognize disaster may strike at any time. You've pulled together some emergency supplies and maybe even completed the CERT course or another training. But in a big emergency, what about the people around you? Will they know how to protect themselves? Will they be able to help their neighbors - including you? Or will they be the ones needing help? The truth about emergencies, particularly in an apartment building, is that you are all it it together! So, the best possible situation is to have neighbors who are themselves aware and ready to step up. After all, neighbors will be there when the disaster hits. They will be the true First Responders.When we moved into our own new home, that's the situation we found ourselves in - and we weren't comfortable with it. So, we gathered up our energy, our marketing skills and our experience as trainers and began what has turned out to be a 15+ year experiment at improving emergency preparedness throughout our community. This book (and the others in the Series) details what we have learned so far about building a neighborhood emergency response team. Our goal is to share it to help others build their own neighborhood teams. Of course, every community is different. And while we approach building a neighborhood team in three broadly defined steps, we try to include many, many ways to go about getting there. The three steps are simple: (1) Prepare yourself and your family (2) Get CERT training and build a core group around you (3) Build, document and practice your neighborhood "plan" for credibility and consistency.Sounds simple, but there are many choices to be made along the way. Some of the resources we've included that we hope will make your choices easier: * Using the advantages - and watching out for the disadvantages - of your unique setting (multi-family dwelling, high-rise or low-rise, mobilehome park, single family residential neighborhood)* Lists of emergency supplies for survival kits, evacuation kits, pet survival kits, etc.* Eight priorities for personal preparations* MANY suggestions for holding meetings that will recruit new members and keep them involved (We have been involved in hundreds of such meetings over the years!)* List of emergency items your neighborhood team members will want * 7 things about your building/location to investigate before you even start building the team* Step by step to creating the "organization chart" and filling in the blanks with neighbors' names* Sample charts, communications matrix, meeting invitations* Legal alerts and warnings* "Real life" short stories of things we tried that didn't work so well!Finally, we admit to some of our frustrations with the process -- and we try to remind enthusiastic leaders about what to expect from volunteers!There are no guarantees in this book. Emergencies by their very definition are unexpected and unknown. What we do know, though, is that whatever preparations you and your neighbors make, and whatever planning you do, gives you a better chance of keeping that emergency from becoming a disaster. This book will help get you started.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1980594864
• ISBN13: 9781980594864
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 143 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.3" x 5.0"