WHY USE ALL THREE TYPES OF EMERGENCY PREPARATION?
We have three general types of emergency preparation and response, which fit together – not perfectly, but substantially – to cover a lot of scenarios. We call them “Official,” “Individual Household,” and “Organizing By Island.”
Each one has strengths and limitations. Each one can benefit from your participation.
_____________
OFFICIAL
Examples: Community Emergency Response Team (CERT); 911; Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); Firefighters
Strengths: They all use the Incident Command System (ICS). They have very experienced and heroic crews, trained in advance. For each incident, even if multiple agencies are collaborating, they use a clear chain of command. Responses backed by the federal government can be dramatically powerful and high-tech.
Limitations: The top of the decision-making chain is 3000 miles away, and often does not take into account how important and multi-talented we are and how much work we already do to take care of each other and of climate refugees. People not trained in ICS must not try to help on-scene.
Deployment begins when a disaster is declared. During the preventive work beforehand, the chain of command is more fragmented and often politicized. Destructive, profitable activities sometimes masquerade as “resilience-building.” Once the disaster is declared, responses can be rough on the environment and on the public health of the survivors.
Ways you can strengthen the Official type of emergency work: Sign up for mobile alerts such as Nixel and MyShake. Get trained as a CERT volunteer (contact Duell Parks at duellparks@gmail.com.) Become a volunteer or an auxiliary member for a fire department. Assure that your elected officials have access to the results of disaster-related scientific studies that were not funded by groups that have conflicts of interest. During an evacuation, follow the instructions of the Incident Commander. During a disaster, stay out of the way of the ICS-trained workers. Do not show up at an Official disaster site and demand to be shown how to help.
_______________
INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLD
Examples: Go Bags; Stay Bags; posting of green & white easily-readable address signs; removal of dry vegetation within 100 feet of inhabited buildings; discussion of crisis plans with relatives near and far
Strengths: They permit us to make our own choices and efforts. We can tailor them to our specific needs—for example, by stocking our Go bags with foods we know we can digest well. We can begin these efforts, and in some cases benefit from them, even before an emergency is declared and regardless of changes in political or economic systems.
Limitations: If we follow the suggestions on many prep websites, we will often be preparing for short-term crises only, so in remote areas they may be unrealistic.
They can be inefficient or even backfire. For example, if every house (rather than one on every block or two) runs a generator, the air pollution causes respiratory illness and the supplies of fuel are depleted more quickly.
Ways you can strengthen the Individual Household type of emergency work: Gather in groups to make Go Bags and Stay Bags together (while taking appropriate precautions not to give each other infections.) Organize chipper days for a neighborhood so that yard waste need not be burned. Communicate that you want your neighbors to make it through the crises with you.
______________
ORGANIZING BY ISLAND using Hubs & Routes maps
Why add this to Official and Individual Household preparations and responses?
Sometimes Official can’t get to us and Individual Household efforts are not enough.
It is less work and less expensive for every Island to prepare than for every household to prepare for long periods of self-sufficient survival. It improves communication and travel within and between Islands. If needed, it could outlast our political and economic structures. It helps repair the climate and thus reduce the frequency of disasters.
Organizing by Island allows non-ICS-trained people to match up people with resources (such as warmth & water) that may keep them from developing dangerous conditions (like severe dehydration & hypothermia) that require expert care at the hospital. It allows us to treat each others’ lives as just as important as the lives of people who are cheaper to rescue, without using more than our fair share of taxes.