A Neighborhood Prepared

I think we all can agree that we live in a beautiful community and enjoy so many blessings as citizens of Richmond. We must remember, however, that we are not exempt from disaster and each should do his or her part to prepare for such. This is just a reminder to dust off our Richmond Stake Emergency Preparedness Tips booklet, to review it as a family, and to prepare accordingly.

In case you were not aware, Dave and I are the block leaders in the event of an emergency situation. Let me explain what that means. As block leaders, it is our responsibility, should an emergency situation occur to:

1. Notify the ICC (Incident Command Center), in the Bishop's office of the church, (unless otherwise moved if area is damaged) that we are on duty. If by some chance we are out of town, at work, disabled etc. and unable to perform this duty, the ICC will appoint someone else.

2. Go around the block and determine emergency needs (medical, rescue, hazards, etc.)

3. Determine temporary shelter needs.

4. Determine basic water, hygiene and food needs.

5. Determine clean up needs.

6. Notify ICC of needs.

We love all of our neighbors and would really like to take a pro-active approach to this. We would like to encourage each of us to be prepared with what we can in terms of temporary shelter, basic water, hygiene and food needs BEFORE a disaster strikes in our area and are willing to help in this effort.

As a family, we are re-reading our Richmond Stake Emergency Preparedness Tips booklet and re-evaluating our preparedness and encourage others to do the same. We will be tracking our progress and sharing ideas on preparedness on line at http://theroadtoself-reliance.blogspot.com/. We would like to encourage others to share their great ideas on preparedness with one another to help motivate each other so that we may be a neighborhood prepared!

If you are in need of a stake emergency booklet, contact Marvin White, our ward emergency preparedness coordinator.