2.What is an Emergency?
Calling it "Disaster Preparedness" is a bit misleading. That makes people think of things like tornados, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides, etc. The problem with that is tornados, floods, and wildfires are infrequent, and hurricanes and earthquakes virtually nonexistant.* So people in the upper midwest think they're safe. They don't consider that they are vunerable to fires, chemical spills, plane crashes, explosions and such. Mother Nature isn't the only threat around. And man-made threats can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone. Better to call this part of the website "Emergency Preparedness". An emergency is anything that effects you suddenly and adversly and causes you to react to manage the situation until it can be resolved or you can get help. It can be as broad as another Katrina, or as simple as a gas main leak on your block. It can even be that midnight trip to the emergency vet with a sick or injured pet that can't wait until morning (or Monday). Normally, our typical reaction to any emergency is to call 911. But you can't call paramedics for an injured pet. Or there might not be time to call, the phone lines or cell towers might be down, or the 911 authorities might be the ones telling you to get the heck out NOW! Your reaction might be to grab your family and pets and run for it, to hunker down and find shelter, or to do your best to keep your pet alive until you can get them to the vet.
Am I scaring you? I shouldn't be. You are scared if you are threatened by a situation you don't know how to react to. If you have considered what you might have to face, thought out what you could do in each situation, worked out what your options are, decided what tools and equipment you might need and assembled them, and (most of all) rehearsed your response, then you won't be scared. Your training and practice will click in and you will react. And that can save valuable time. It's not complicated. Mostly, you need to have a plan of action in mind and be prepared to follow it. If you're dithering and running in circles, you're part of the problem and not part of the solution.
The first thing you need to look at is what sort of situations you might be facing. In each case, your reaction will be to either take shelter or get out. Some situations, like an imminent explosion or an advancing chemical cloud, you grab and run. Others, like a flood or hurricane, you have to get out but you can do it calmly in an orderly fashion. Still others, you can choose to evacuate or stay. In a winter time power failure, you might decided to send the kids and pets to stay elsewhere, while you stay to drain the pipes and winterise the house. In the case of a tornado warning or if the siren goes off, there's no choice; take cover! Some things, like earthquakes or explosions, strike without warning. Then your plan is based on how to get by until help arrives and a way to get out is cleared. Looking after kids in these situations can be difficult, but adding pets to the mix is another thing entirely. They are perpetual two year olds. They don't understand that the food has to last a while, that the wire in the street could be dangerous, why everyone is upset. They need their own equipment and food. You need to be prepared to get them out of harm's way and care for them until you can get life back to normal. And that takes some pre-planning. It's not complicated. In furure posts I will outline a number of simple steps you can take to make evacuation with pets go more smoothly.
*This was originally written for a Wisconsin forum.
BW; 9/11 did wake a lot of people up to the fact that you don't have to live in a storm zone to be hit. You have good preparations. Maybe you can add rotating food stocks to the twice a year change the clocks and smoke alarm batteries. Just curious, are you actually in the city, or out in the suburbs? I grew up in the western 'burbs of Chicago, and have been trying to move back there for years. I try to keep track of what's going on with animals down there, since I figure that if anything big happen in Chicago, Milwaukee will respond (at least some of us), and vice verse.
