Preparing for a Storm

Posted by shush

December 9, 2014

If you live in our country you’ll get used to storms. They come and go as they please. Sometimes they are mild, sometimes they are very destructive. Sometimes we make it through with minimal damage, and sadly sometimes the damage is just devastating to look at.

For many years it has been a goal to teach the people to leave their properties and stay at the designated areas within their towns or cities that are considered safe from destruction and flooding during the storms. For many years death tolls have been a primary concern besides the damage to property. All because people usually have a hard time taking what is told to them seriously, especially when it comes to storms that they are used to having all their lives. So when they are told to leave, they choose to stay. Couldn’t blame them for the following reasons:

Reason 1: The evacuation centers

- do not have enough space to accommodate everyone comfortably
- do not have enough lavatory facilities to accommodate everyone’s needs
- do not provide a sanitary place to stay in for people who have health conditions that puts them in high risk during their stay there
- do not provide enough privacy between different families within a room
- is a potential source of health problems even to healthy people as they are mixed in with those who have viral diseases who could easily spread them to hundreds in a matter of hours
- do not have a steady food source, especially for those who are nursing and children

Reason 2: The people managing the situation in the evacuation centers
- do not always have enough resources to attend to emergency situations that might suddenly occur
- do not really have control over the people staying at the evacuation centers
- do not usually have the authority to call the shots when big decisions are to be made immediately
- do not usually have the proper training to handle all possible situations that might occur there
- do not usually have enough communication devices to use in all possible situtations

Reason 3: The property and the security of the property left behind
- is not assured safe by the local authorities
- is not usually insured
- may not be retrieved when the storm proves to be very damaging

Preparing for a storm takes a lot of planning. After the planning comes a hell of a lot of training. After the training is the arduous task of implementing everything that was planned and learned during training.

Things don’t always turn out as expected. But you would know when planning is done well if the people are made to leave their property and stay at the evacuation centers BEFORE the storm actually ravages the places it is predicted to visit.

This storm series is an attempt to help shed some light on the possible things that could be done to address the reasons above. For the next days I would be posting a blog entry to express my opinions on what can be done additionally to the already planned disaster prevention measures.

Some thoughts from a stay-at-home mom who watches on TV the effects of the storms that pass through our country annually, experiences some of them, and would like to pass on some suggestions that might help.

TO BE CONTINUED

Coordinated Moves, Keeping Safe, Momhood

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