Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Canada’s Emergency Preparedness Week runs May 5-11, serving as the perfect opportunity to remind residents now is the time to develop a plan in the event of an emergency.
Greater Napanee Emergency Services will once again use the campaign as a springboard to raise awareness of the importance of being ready ahead of time.
“This year’s theme is make a plan, build a kit, be informed,” said GNES public educator Randy Cook. “Your plan should contain ways you and your family can communicate in the event of a disaster and should include an evacuation plan like a safe meeting spot or evacuation route and where you store your emergency kit.”
Items to include in a kit are water, food, blankets, crank flashlights and radios, pet supplies, medications and cash.
This year’s focus is on communication, both with families planning on what to do ahead of time as well as knowing where to get information in the event of an incoming disaster. Cook says residents can monitor official government websites as well as their local town’s social media accounts for fast and accurate information in the event of an emergency.
Numbers show the campaign is important as a recent poll says while 85 per cent of Canadians agree a kit is a good idea, only about 25 per cent actually have one. Cook says this area is particularly sceptical to a potential disaster both in terms of natural or man made. Lennox and Addington County houses several large bodies of water that could create a potential flooding situation as well as heavily wooded areas that are at risk of fire in dry conditions.
Meanwhile closer to town there is Hwy 401 and CP rail lines, which moves potentially hazardous materials through the area on a regular basis.
As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, members of GNES will be visiting local schools to help spread the message of being prepared.
GNES has done well at spreading the message, as the Office of the Fire Marshall Emergency Management ranked Greater Napanee as tops in the province for citizen awareness and engagement on emergency preparedness.
For advice on how to put together an emergency kit visit www.GetPrepared.ca or contact the local fire department.