What Happened?
Cities across the country are updating their procedures for handling major disasters through investment in new resources, employee training and community outreach.
San Diego
The city of San Diego was recently audited by the Office of Homeland Security and learned many city departments are working off outdated or inaccurate information regarding major disaster emergency plans. Many city employees are lacking the appropriate training to follow the proper procedures, while insufficient coordination was found between the Office of Homeland Security and local departments, KPBS reported.
As a result, San Diego has reorganized its Homeland Security office to ensure officials have the training and authority to handle major disasters effectively and keep residents safe. The department must be prepared to mitigate risks associated with a wide array of emergency situations including:
- Hazardous materials spills
- Natural disasters like earthquakes or fires
- Attacks on public infrastructures
One of the significant improvements San Diego made to its emergency preparedness plan was improve continuity of operations between local government departments. The audit found many departments had incomplete emergency plans, creating potentially dangerous holes in management protocol. The city has since worked to close these gaps and ensure all departments are running on the same information, KPBS reported.
Long Island
Many communities have specific types of disasters they are preparing for. State Farm recently awarded Sustainable Long Island with a $10,000 grant to develop and launch a disaster preparedness program. The goal of the initiative is to assess the city’s storm readiness now compared to how prepared residents were prior to Superstorm Sandy. Residents will take an online survey to provide key insights into what information and resources may be lacking to better prepare for another major storm.
Once the survey is complete, Sustainable Long Island will analyze the results and pinpoint the most immediate emergency preparedness needs for local communities such as:
- Emergency kits and supplies
- Evacuation plans and strategies
- Access to information or knowledge on emergency preparedness and recovery
Sustainable Long Island will also launch peer-to-peer education meetings to teach students on how to leverage social media channels during a disaster to aid public safety efforts and improve disaster management efficiency. Furthermore, Sustainable Long Island will collaborate with the city of Long Beach to conduct a community awareness pilot program to provide residents with storm-related resources on how to be prepared, stay informed and handle crisis situations.
Canon City
Similarly, Canon City, Colorado, has launched a community wildfire protection plan that educates residents and property owners on how best to mitigate risks associated with wildfires. The Southwest Canon Community Wildfire Protection Plan offers property owners with assessments to identify potential risks that put their home and loved ones in danger in the case of a fire emergency. Improvements around properties can also help owners acquire better insurance coverage, Canon City Daily Record reported.
In addition, the Southwest Canon Community Wildfire Protection Plan used grant funding from the Department of Local Affairs to fund GIS mapping that will help emergency agencies identify fire protection features, safety zones in the community and other assets involved in the emergency planning process required for all types of wildfire instances, Canon City Daily Record reported.
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National Disaster Resilience Grants Available