Evacuation Planning, Part II*

'In it Together': Will you take part?

by Mary Brown, Lions Bay Emergency Planning Coordinator

Emergency Preparedness Week will be held May 3-9 in BC.

This year’s theme is “In it Together”, recognizing that everyone’s readiness improves when we look out for one another. A strong sense of trust and belonging before an emergency means people can rely on each other when one occurs.

As Emergency Program Coordinator (EPC), one of the projects I would like to see go Village-wide is also called, “In it Together: Neighbourhood Preparedness Guide.” It can be found HERE.

The program is based loosely on the Block Watch program, requiring neighbourhood “pod” captains that will coordinate 10-15 houses in their immediate area. This is particularly important to us if we have to shelter in place during an emergency, and if evacuation is difficult or impossible we may have to take care of ourselves until outside agencies can assist us.

Two neighbourhoods in Lions Bay have already stepped forward to begin building their preparedness pods. If you are interested in being a captain for your neighbourhood pod, please contact me at mbrown@lionsbay.ca.

Also occurring during Emergency Preparedness Week is a test of the Alertable system for Lions Bay. It will occur at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 5. It will not only sound the alert on your phone, but will carry a message about how to prepare for an emergency.

If you do not already have Alertable on your phone, it is a free app that will notify you of significant local community emergencies with instructions on what to do and where to go in order to stay safe. It can also notify you of specific events like earthquake early warning, fire, flooding, road closures and many other events in neighbouring communities. It is customizable for your needs in terms of settings, locations, languages, accessibility and the type of communication device you would like to have the alert sent to ( iOS, android and landlines).

A few weeks ago, I helped out at the Lions Bay School earthquake and student emergency pickup drill. Alertable will now be used to alert parents to emergency student pickups, in addition to email and text messages.

If you don’t already have the Alertable app downloaded to your device of choice, do yourself and your family a solid favour and download it HERE .

But wait, there’s more! A BC Emergency Alert System test will take place on Wednesday, May 6 at 1:55 p.m. BC emergency alerts are broadcast on TV, radio and compatible cell phones to provide urgent, life-saving information during emergencies. It is sent from a provincial office, so you do not need to download anything.

The third and final part of this evacuation planning article will be specifically on the Village evacuation plan that is in the final stages of writing. When the plan is completed, there will be a town hall information session to bring the information to all residents, because a plan is only as good as the understanding and buy-in of the community it is meant to serve.

Mary Brown,

EPC, Village of Lions Bay

mbrown@lionsbay.ca

*This is the second of a three-part series. Part I can be found HERE.

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