Week 9 - Whats left undone in your Family’s Earthquake Plan?

 

By Jackie Kloosterboer – Earthquake Preparedness Specialist & Author – My Earthquake Preparedness Guide

It should be no surprise that after an earthquake you will likely not be able to reach for your cell phone and call your loved ones. I am still surprised by the looks on people’s faces when they hear this. Many people just don’t think about how an earthquake will impact them and their families. 

This happened at a presentation I was giving on Earthquake Preparedness. I had just finished answering questions on how to connect with your family after an earthquake when a lady raised her hand. “Jackie – let me ask you this. My husband works 5 blocks from here and our kids are in daycare across the bridge – what if I can’t reach my husband how do we connect? If I start walking to his office and he starts walking to my office we may take different routes and never connect.  What do we do?” 

IDENTIFY A FAMILY MEETING PLACE NEAR YOUR WORK SITE.

Just like at home - identify a Family Meeting Place near your work sites.  Following a major earthquake or disaster when you are unable to connect you would go to your Family Meeting Place. 

It could be somewhere between your two work locations, it could be on the corner, it could be in front of your favourite Starbucks or Tim’s. The key point is to make sure your Family Meeting Place is a pre-identified location.

Once you have connected with your family at your Family Meeting Place, then you can start making decisions on what your next move should be.  There are many variables that come into play that will factor into the decision making:

• how bad is the earthquake/disaster, 
• are roads and bridges closed, 
• can you walk home or walk to daycare (make sure you have walking shoes in your grab and go kit – as you know walking in heels can be difficult).

Consider all your options and then make the best decision you can.

You’re Task for Week #8:

Identify Your Family Meeting Place close to your work

1.  Sit down with your family and identify your work Family Meeting Place.

2.  Review the process – if unable to connect using your cell phone, work phone, social media etc.             you would go to your Family Meeting Place and wait for your partner.

3.  Remember to wear walking shoes and bring your work grab and go kit with you.

 
4.  Determine with your partner what your next move will be based on the current information.                Thinking through some of the challenges you may be faced with, can help you develop a better            plan – consider the following: 

a.      Do you stay at work or do you need to return home?

b.      How will you get home? 

c.      Is transit running?

d.      Do you stay with friends?

e.      Do you or can you walk home?

We are all going to have different answers – and these answers are what will help you develop your plan.  Having a Work Family Meeting Place and knowing the challenges you could be faced with can be a vital part of your plan.

As with all preparedness if this doesn’t work for you adapt it to work for your situation.

Week 10 we will look at some steps you can take to help make your home is better prepared for an earthquake. Until then – stay safe and get you, your family and pets prepared.

The time to prepare is NOW – once the earthquake strikes it will be too late!

______________________________________________________

Jackie Kloosterboer - BIO

Jackie Kloosterboer has been leading the way in earthquake preparedness for 2 decades presenting more than 100 Earthquake Preparedness sessions each year to groups and businesses. She is often interviewed by a variety of media outlets across Canada as she promotes the importance of earthquake and disaster preparedness.

As an Emergency Preparedness Specialist and an Instructor with the Justice Institute of BC Jackie travels across Canada teaching people how to respond to disasters to help those who have been displaced. Throughout British Columbia Jackie has taken on leadership roles assisting those who have been impacted by disaster.

Contact Jackie to speak at your next group or business event to help you get prepared for earthquakes or whatever disaster comes your way. Jackie will lead you through the necessary steps helping you identify what is important to you and your family or business.  

Contact Jackie with any questions or to book her for your next event at jackie@survive-it.ca or call (604) 355-2414.  

www.survive-it.ca

Week 8 - After an Earthquake is Facebook part of your plan to connect with family?

 By Jackie Kloosterboer – Earthquake Preparedness Specialist & Author –  My Earthquake Preparedness Guide

If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times:  After an Earthquake or any significant disaster your family will be your number one concern.  You will want to find out quickly if they are ok.  To make this happen you need to identify a number of different ways to connect with your family.

Over that last few weeks we have looked at ways to connect with family - Your Family Meeting Place when you have to evacuate your home, your Out of Area Contact if you are not together when  the earthquake or disaster strikes, but there are still many other ways to connect.  

Option! Options! Options! The more options you have the better your chance to connect with family and loved ones following an earthquake or disaster.

This week we will look at Social Media and how it can be used to connect your family. You have a lot of options with Social Media, so I encourage you to select the ones that work best for you and your family. 

Facebook will be the focus of this post and we will also take a slight detour from earthquakes and look at the success of Facebook in connecting families and loved ones following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

After these horrible attacks people around the world were concerned about their loved ones and friends in Paris.  Where were they?  Were they ok?  Facebook played a huge role in connecting families around the world.

To help people connect Facebook immediately activated their crisis-focused “Safety Check” feature so Facebook users who were visiting or lived in Paris could easily notify their Facebook Friends that they were safe.   

This was launched on Friday night which was a very quick response and it allowed friends and families to check on their loved ones.  I know people who used it and it was so simple and nothing feels better than finding out your friends and family are safe.

Success was also seen using the “Safety Check” feature following the Nepal Earthquake a few months ago.  In Nepal more than seven million people used “Safety Check” to let their friends and family know they were safe after the earthquake that devastated parts of Nepal.

Twitter has also added features for sharing important information during disasters which you may want to investigate further.  

Remember – Preparing for earthquakes is all about having options. If Plan A doesn’t work, try plan B and so on. The more options you have the easier it will be to connect with your loved ones when facing an earthquake or disaster.

Your Task for Week #8:

1. Sit down with your family and talk about your Social Media Options.
2. Select the Social Media Options that work best for your family (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
3. Write down your password and keep it with you. If you are unable to use your device and need to use a different one – you may need your password.

Week 9 we will look at how to connect with your family after an earthquake if you are at work.

Until then – stay safe and get you, your family and pets prepared.

The time to prepare is NOW – once the earthquake strikes it will be too late!

______________________________________________________

Jackie Kloosterboer - BIO

Jackie Kloosterboer has been leading the way in earthquake preparedness for 2 decades presenting more than 100 Earthquake Preparedness sessions each year to groups and businesses. She is often interviewed by a variety of media outlets across Canada as she promotes the importance of earthquake and disaster preparedness.

As an Emergency Preparedness Specialist and an Instructor with the Justice Institute of BC Jackie travels across Canada teaching people how to respond to disasters to help those who have been displaced. Throughout British Columbia Jackie has taken on leadership roles assisting those who have been impacted by disaster.

Contact Jackie to speak at your next group or business event to help you get prepared for earthquakes or whatever disaster comes your way. Jackie will lead you through the necessary steps helping you identify what is important to you and your family or business.  

For more Earthquake Preparedness Tips

Follow Jackie at twitter.com/EarthquakeGuide

Connect with Jackie at www.facebook.com/jackie.kloosterboer

For bookings and other information visit www.surviv-it.ca or email Jackie@survie-it.ca or call    604–355-2414

   

Week 7 - Where will your family meet after an Earthquake?

By Jackie Kloosterboer – Earthquake Preparedness Specialist & Author – My Earthquake Preparedness Guide

The shrilling noise of your smoke alarm jolts you from a deep sleep. You can smell and taste the smoke as you leap from your bed.  You realize this is really bad as you scream for your family to get out of the house immediately. There is no time to check on them or help them - you all need to get out NOW.  You rush to the nearest exit praying your family will do the same. 

Outside, your heart is racing as you frantically search for your family. You rush from your back yard to the front yard searching desperately for them as you watch your house go up in flames. Where are they? How are they? Did they make it out safely?   

How different this situation could have been if you had sat down with your family and identified your Family Meeting Place before being faced with a fire. Your Family Meeting Place is a pre identified location where your family will meet when you have to evacuate your home.  

Usually a Family Meeting Place is located across the street from your home in front of your neighbour's house making it an easy location for all family members to report to when being evacuated. If you and your family meet there you will very quickly know who has made it out safely and who has not. You could then let the fire department know and they may be able to help that person.

When evacuating your home if anyone leaves by the door where your Grab & Go Kits are stored grab the kits if it is safe to do so.  If it's not safe to grab your Grab and Go kits simply leave the house. Life safety always comes first!

Your Family Meeting Place is a crucial part of your plan making it easy to reunite your family. We all need to remember that earthquakes can cause secondary disasters such as fires. So whether the fire you are facing is the result of an earthquake or whether it's a house fire - you are going to be thankful you have your Family Meeting Place. 

Having responded to many house and apartment fires over the years, I have seen first-hand the importance of having a Family Meeting Place. I see the panicked faces of parents frantically searching for their kids not knowing if they have made it out safely, the fear of kids who can't find their parents. 

They don't know if they are still in the burning house or apartment or if they have made it out to safety because they never identified their Family Meeting Place. This works - but like anything else it only going to work if you have taken the time to put it in place.

Sit down with your family today and identify your Family Meeting Place.

Your Task for Week #7:

1. Sit down with your family and identify your Family Meeting Place.
2. Explain that this is the location you will meet if you must evacuate your home quickly.
3. Practice evacuating your home by setting off the smoke alarms.  Have family members located in different parts of your home and when they hear the smoke alarm have them go to your Family Meeting Place. 
4. Remind your family if they are going past the location your Grab & Go Kits are stored to grab them if safe to do so. 

Week 8 we will look at how to connect with your family after an earthquake if you are not at home.

Until then – stay safe and get you, your family and pets prepared.

The time to prepare is NOW – once the earthquake strikes it will be too late!

______________________________________________________

Jackie Kloosterboer - BIO

Jackie Kloosterboer has been leading the way in earthquake preparedness for 2 decades presenting more than 100 Earthquake Preparedness sessions each year to groups and businesses. She is often interviewed by a variety of media outlets across Canada as she promotes the importance of earthquake and disaster preparedness.

As an Emergency Preparedness Specialist and an Instructor with the Justice Institute of BC Jackie travels across Canada teaching people how to respond to disasters to help those who have been displaced. Throughout British Columbia Jackie has taken on leadership roles assisting those who have been impacted by disaster.

Contact Jackie to speak at your next group or business event to help you get prepared for earthquakes or whatever disaster comes your way. Jackie will lead you through the necessary steps helping you identify what is important to you and your family or business.  


Contact Jackie with any questions or to book her for your next event at jackie@survive-it.ca or call (604) 355-2414.  

www.survive-it.ca