Disaster Preparedness Hosts Need Emergency Preparedness Checklist

Emergency preparedness tips for those who help disaster victims

Disaster planning is not just for those who are in potential harms way. It is vital that those who will most likely be the ‘private rescue station’ for family and friends have a disaster plan as well as a disaster recovery plan when an emergency is pressing down for both the disaster victims but also for the disaster care providers. Those who agree to be ‘private rescue stations’ for loved ones need to several resources available at a moment’s notice including an emergency preparedness checklist with phone numbers of those who can be of help and support, emergency preparedness necessities and enough low cost emergency survival kits.

Emergency preparedness is not just for those who are fleeing from harms way but also for those who are receiving. Remember it can quickly become a major disaster when your personal life routine is disrupted by disaster response situations. Know where and what are your physical, emotional and financial limits are long term and short term. Have a personal sanctuary that is all yours, perhaps your bedroom or a place in the basement that is off limits to everyone but you. Disaster stress affects not only the hurricane victims but also the emergency care providers. It is not being rude, stingy or unloving to have a place for you. To be able to cope with the multitude of needs a place of peace and calm is vital for the care giver.

In a potential disaster situation, EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE PREPARED!

COMMENTS WELCOMED!

Please share your thoughts, emergency preparedness tips and stories here on this blog.

ll I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.

Be Safe – Be Prepared – Help Others!

Terrie

Local Family Bracing for Gustav

By Eliot Kleinberg | Monday, September 1, 2008, 03:49 PM

Three years ago, Shelia Ross took in 32 relatives driven from the New Orleans area by Hurricane Katrina. Only last month, her mother returned to Louisiana, leaving just her dad and brother of the original refugees.

Now, the teacher is bracing for another round of hurricane exiles, this time from Gustav.

“If it’s flooded out, they’ll be coming,” Ross said Monday.

Most relatives were waiting out Gustav in Pensacola and in Lecompte, La., Ross said.

Ross said the relatives who fled Katrina had trickled back over the last three years, many to keep jobs that cranked after things settled down.

“All of them lost their homes,” she said. She said half her relatives still are living in FEMA trailers.

Ross, who’s lived in South Florida for two decades, teaches at Citrus Cove Elementary School and her husband, Edwin, at Discovery Key Elementary.

After Katrina, she originally took in everyone at her suburban Lantana home. Later, a woman at Ross’ church offered a three-bedroom Delray Beach home with a trailer in the back yard and several organizations, including a South Florida furniture chain, donated items. Other relatives lived rent-free at apartments in Riviera Beach.