Personal Activities in Emergency Preparedness
Disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and fires are some of the occurrences that can endanger lives and put stress on people and to the disaster survivors.
They can be prevented or can be dealt with by applying the processes of emergency management.
Emergency management or disaster management can be applied for dealing the stress brought about by disasters and accidents. It can be described as a discipline for avoiding risks. It could involve preparation, mitigation, response and support and recovery when disasters, either man-made or natural, occur.
Emergency management can be applied by one person or by a group of persons, a community or a government of a country. Different terms can come with emergency management. It can be termed in other places as crisis management and emergency preparedness. However, there may be differences in terms of applications.
Emergency preparedness could involve physical, psychological, emotional and material preparation of a person or a group of person. In personal level, the measures of preparedness may include proper construction of shelters, installation of devices that can help during emergency periods, practicing evacuation plans, and noting of contact numbers of persons and help services. Installation of a panic room can be considered a preparedness measure in homes.
Mitigation is the process of identifying the risks and seeking for measures to minimize or eliminate the risks. It may include actions to reduce or eliminate the risks such as the application of technological solutions, land-use and shelter planning and acquiring of insurance policies.
Emergency preparedness may also involve preparation of emergency plan and emergency kit or survival kit. An emergency plan may include the preparedness measures. It may also integrate the identification of risks and designation of persons to execute an activity. Writing an emergency plan can be made in less than an hour. However, extensive research should be made to devise a plan for emergency preparedness.
Moreover, an emergency kit can be an essential collection of item during disaster or emergency. An emergency kit can last for 72 hours or 3 days should be prepared.
Emergency preparedness or emergency management is one of the scopes that can be integrated in the Boy Scout and Girl Scout associations. Young people should be taught with the proper preparedness measures as a form of awareness. This would help them to be alert in times of emergency.
Emergency preparedness could save lives and could lessen the costs of damage. A desirable outcome of risk management can be attained if proper information is relayed and preparedness measures are practiced.