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