Is your family ready? Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. Cordova’s potential hazards may include an earthquake, an avalanche, a pandemic flu, a tsunami, a plane crash, or ash falling from the sky. Your family may have to abruptly leave your home…or be confined to your home. Families can – and do- cope with disasters such as these by preparing in advance.
The first step to protect yourselves is to prepare a Family Disaster Plan. This plan is not a vague ideology, a random list of ideas, or an evening discussion with your kids. Instead, it is a purposeful, deliberate set of actions that require commitment and time. The family disaster plan begins by educating yourselves; find out what could happen to your family in Cordova.
Cordova’s disaster management team has created a list of potential hazards in Cordova, which can be viewed on the city website. Go to www.cityofcordova.net …and click on the link for “Cordova Prepared “. For each of those potential hazards, gather information on how to prepare for them. Much of that specific information will be discussed in this column over the next six months.
So, what can you do now…today? You may begin….this week…by finding out what the disaster plan is at your workplace, your children’s school or day care center, your church, and other places where your family spends time. As you ask, you may find that many places do not yet have a plan. The city of Cordova is not unlike many other small towns across America, just beginning this process. Disaster planning is time-consuming and hard to relate to, until a disaster actually happens. Let’s be one step ahead. If there is no plan in place where you inquire, don’t complain…offer to help create one.
As always. Be prudent. Be ready. Be prepared.