Rockland Neighbourhood Association Members,
 
I am the Chair of the Safety Committee (2006), which combines Block Watch and
Emergency Preparedness for the Rockland Neighbourhood Association.
The Committee has decided to distribute weekly emails for your information.
They will include specific tasks which you may choose to undertake to
increase your preparedness for an emergency.
 
1.  You may be on your own for up to 72 hours (probably more) before help
can arrive.  Emergency personnel will be victims too. Those working may be
in damaged buildings or unable to negotiate vehicles through streets full of debris.
Personnel on call will be caring for their own families first and then may
not be able to travel to their place of employment.
2.  There are currently 100 emergency social service volunteers ready to man
an emergency response centre in the city.  In the event of an
earthquake, before a centre can open, it must be physically checked by a
structural engineer in order to ensure its safety, so most likely there will
be some delay before they will be able to attend to the public.
 
PREPARING ISN'T ABOUT TIME OR MONEY
 
There are 24 basic things you can do. Doing one each week makes the whole
task of preparing you and your family for emergencies less onerous.
Buy equipment second hand and add a few groceries to your shopping list
every time you go.
 
WE ARE CHALLENGING YOU:
 

We plan to send you a task every week for the next 24 weeks
P.S. Please feel free to forward our email challenge on to your friends and
family.  The more people who are prepared, the safer we all will be.

Thank you,
Susan Bartol-Drinker
Chair RNA Safety Committee (Block Watch & Emergency Preparedness)
Norman Clark
Patricia Gatey
Terry Lineham
Henrik de Pagter

NOTE:  www.vema-info.ca includes an up to date schedule of emergency preparedness
classes which are free to the citizens of Victoria, and useful emergency
preparedness information and links.
These classes are provided by the unpaid volunteer directors of the Victoria
Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program, Deborah Reid, and Dan Cochran,
Director VNEPP VEMA.

---

 Task #1
Your task this week  is to get a portable container with a lid to use as an
emergency kit. A plastic storage bin or garbage can works well, particularly
one with wheels.  Choose an accessible location for the container near an exit,
and label the container.  Make sure all family members know what it will be used
 for and where it is.
 

Task #2
Stock your kit with a three-day supply of water, and don't forget to include
water for your pets (30 millilitres per kilogram of animal's weight, per
day).
You need four litres of water per person per day - two for drinking and two
for food preparation and hygiene.

- You can survive weeks without food, but only a few days without water.
- In an emergency, other sources of water include: your hot water tank and
your toilet tank (notice, that is the tank, not the bowl) and a rain barrel,
if you have one (but purify water with chlorine bleach, one drop of chlorine
bleach per litre of water, or purification tablets before drinking).
- Water should be stored in sturdy plastic bottles, preferably opaque, or at
least shielded from sunlight. Chlorine bleach bottles actually work well for
this; milk containers are not good.
- Record the date you bottles the water.
- Water bottled by you should be changed every 6 months.
- Avoid placing water containers in areas where toxic substances are present
and do not store containers on cement (vapours penetrate the plastic after
time)

Task #3
Arrange an out-of-area phone contact person, and keep this and other
emergency phone numbers near each telephone.
You and your dependants should carry this information with you at all times.

- -        After a major disaster, local phone service may be limited (local
to local lines)
- -        Arrange with someone in a different region (not in the coastal
areas of B.C. or the U.S.) to be your family contact.
- -        Choose someone who has voicemail or an answering machine.
- -        After a quake or other disaster, listen to a portable radio or TV
(if you have power) for the use of telephone instructions, and then phone
your contact to say how and where you are and what your plans are. Keep the
call short.
- -        Long distance and pay phone lines are on a different system from
local lines and are given priority to be put back online in a disaster.
- -        If your phone has no dial tone, but you can hear your voice when
you speak into the mouthpiece, you have a delayed dial tone - stay on the
line - hanging up will put you to the bottom of the queue and will put
unnecessary use on the phone system.

A Possible Scenario: "Hello Aunt Dorothy (in Winnipeg). The children and I
are all right and at home. Have you heard from Dave?"
"Yes, he just called. He's all right also and is at the office. He's going
to call back in half an hour. I'll tell him you are all right and to head
for home."

Task #4
Stock your kit with several varieties of canned meat, fish and dried fruit.
Include a manual can opener.

Task #5
This task is going to take a bit of effort if you don't already have one....

-        Get a portable radio and extra batteries for your emergency kit.
-        Don't store the batteries inside the radio; store them separately,
but check them every so often.

Good luck!

P.S. Feeling disillusioned 'cause you haven't started yet? Just start
whenever you can; doing something is better than nothing.

Task #6