Regarding your personal/family resilience, do you have emergency preparedness and
resilience plans for your own family or household? For how long, and for what kinds of
events or scenarios have you planned? Are you prepared for scenarios such as power
outages lasting several days, the need to evacuate, pandemic diseases or loss of your
residence? How could you better prepare to be more resilient? How do households that
have planned and prepared contribute to resilient communities?
One of my home resilience plans was just recently tested. My Nest gave a "no power from
HVAC" reading, and my heater was not blowing. After troubleshooting, I discovered that a fuse
had been blown. I changed the fuse, and it fixed the problem - temporarily. My plan for this was
to get the space heaters in the bedrooms and to use the stove to heat the kitchen and dining room
and ensure my family members were in one of the heated rooms until I could get the HVAC
repaired.
I have a plan for a power outage: flashlights in every bedroom, the living room, the kitchen and
the basement. Fresh batteries are stored with each flashlight. The flashlights are checked every 2
weeks (on a payday so that I will easily remember to do so).
I have a plan for a flood: if in the basement, there is a sub-pump that will activate. If in any other
part of the house, there are towels. I do have absorbent mats to help contain the excess water.
I have a plan for fire: if in a room with a closed door, feel the door first. If it is HOT to the touch,
DO NOT open it, as that says that the fire is right outside the door. Although there are
extinguishers on every floor, there may not be access to one depending on the room you are in. If
you have access to one, use it to find a path to safety. Get out first - THEN see if everyone else
has made it out. This way, you can save some extinguishing agent to use if you have to go back
, in, you can make a good assessment of the fire and see if it is feasible to go back in If someone is
still in the house. If you cannot go back in to rescue, tell them to get to a window so you can give
instructions. All my rooms have windows (except the bathrooms), so if you have to evacuate,
you can hang from the bottom of a window and land on grass or on the elevated deck in the back
with minimal or no injury. If stuck in the bathroom, take as many towels as you can, soak them
in water, wrap them around your body, SLOWLY open the door, then QUICKLY find the stairs
and/or the front/back door.
I probably will need a better plan for pandemic diseases, as for now COVID-19 has not affected
my home and has made me a bit complacent. All I do now is wipe and spray everything, wash
my hands frequently, change my clothes as soon as I get in from outside, and drink a lot of tea
with ginger and echinacea.
Reply
Hello Van,
I’m impressed with the kind of emergency preparedness you have for your family on the small
scenarios that most people overlook such as having towels and absorbent mas to contain water.
Good of you that Covid 19 did not hit your household and this should be a eye opener to exploit
more ways of community preparedness and resilience in such events. For instance, communities
should practice a culture of disclosing timely information and effectively communicate dangers.
This would help in improving individuals’ knowledge so as to be able to proactively participate
in the outbreak management. Community resilience is the key as it creates a more sustainable
environments and therefore a great need for the households to be collaborative since Covid 19
has taught us that humans are likely to face unpredictable risks in future.
resilience plans for your own family or household? For how long, and for what kinds of
events or scenarios have you planned? Are you prepared for scenarios such as power
outages lasting several days, the need to evacuate, pandemic diseases or loss of your
residence? How could you better prepare to be more resilient? How do households that
have planned and prepared contribute to resilient communities?
One of my home resilience plans was just recently tested. My Nest gave a "no power from
HVAC" reading, and my heater was not blowing. After troubleshooting, I discovered that a fuse
had been blown. I changed the fuse, and it fixed the problem - temporarily. My plan for this was
to get the space heaters in the bedrooms and to use the stove to heat the kitchen and dining room
and ensure my family members were in one of the heated rooms until I could get the HVAC
repaired.
I have a plan for a power outage: flashlights in every bedroom, the living room, the kitchen and
the basement. Fresh batteries are stored with each flashlight. The flashlights are checked every 2
weeks (on a payday so that I will easily remember to do so).
I have a plan for a flood: if in the basement, there is a sub-pump that will activate. If in any other
part of the house, there are towels. I do have absorbent mats to help contain the excess water.
I have a plan for fire: if in a room with a closed door, feel the door first. If it is HOT to the touch,
DO NOT open it, as that says that the fire is right outside the door. Although there are
extinguishers on every floor, there may not be access to one depending on the room you are in. If
you have access to one, use it to find a path to safety. Get out first - THEN see if everyone else
has made it out. This way, you can save some extinguishing agent to use if you have to go back
, in, you can make a good assessment of the fire and see if it is feasible to go back in If someone is
still in the house. If you cannot go back in to rescue, tell them to get to a window so you can give
instructions. All my rooms have windows (except the bathrooms), so if you have to evacuate,
you can hang from the bottom of a window and land on grass or on the elevated deck in the back
with minimal or no injury. If stuck in the bathroom, take as many towels as you can, soak them
in water, wrap them around your body, SLOWLY open the door, then QUICKLY find the stairs
and/or the front/back door.
I probably will need a better plan for pandemic diseases, as for now COVID-19 has not affected
my home and has made me a bit complacent. All I do now is wipe and spray everything, wash
my hands frequently, change my clothes as soon as I get in from outside, and drink a lot of tea
with ginger and echinacea.
Reply
Hello Van,
I’m impressed with the kind of emergency preparedness you have for your family on the small
scenarios that most people overlook such as having towels and absorbent mas to contain water.
Good of you that Covid 19 did not hit your household and this should be a eye opener to exploit
more ways of community preparedness and resilience in such events. For instance, communities
should practice a culture of disclosing timely information and effectively communicate dangers.
This would help in improving individuals’ knowledge so as to be able to proactively participate
in the outbreak management. Community resilience is the key as it creates a more sustainable
environments and therefore a great need for the households to be collaborative since Covid 19
has taught us that humans are likely to face unpredictable risks in future.
