Are You Ready for the "Big One?"

When my husband started his job as a communications technician for Nevada's Division of Emergency Management, I was inducted into emergency management. I began to hear course numbers like IC-100, IC-200, IC-400, and IC-700. My husband would talk about the incident commander, FEMA, and the duty manager.

Even my Amateur Radio club, ARRL, was getting into the Emergency Management act. The ARRL has an ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) division that is involved with providing amateur radio operators to Emergency managers for exercises, drills, and especially for emergencies. I might add that these operators are not paid for their services.

In the 1980s when I tested for my first amateur radio license, Novice, I wanted to get involved with emergency communications, but I didn't know how to do it. Eventually, I found MARS, Military Affiliated Radio System, which started me in long-distance radio communication.

So what is Emergency Management?

Emergency Management is a process where a group (federal, state, or other entity) can identify and manage disasters in their area.

Every state should have an emergency operations plan which identifies disaster risks in the state and how the state plans to respond to an emergency. Consequently, every county, tribal entity, and business should have a plan.

You should have a plan, too.

For instance, what are you and your family going to do if your home catches fire? Who will grab the dog? What will the children do? Will they run to the door or climb out the window?

In my part of the country, we were recently watching an earthquake swarm. At one point, most of Northern Nevada were afraid that they would be in the middle of the "big one." There was a run on water, food, batteries, weather radios, and first-aid kits. The T.V. and radio station's main stories were about what to do in the event of an earthquake.

So what should you have in your plan?

1. You need to identify the top disaster risks in your area. For me, I worry about wildland fires, floods, and earthquakes.
2. Prepare a plan. The questions you should ask yourself and your family are the following:
   1. What do we need to do in each type of disaster? You might react differently to a fire versus an earthquake
   2. How do we get out of the disaster area?
   3. If we are apart during the disaster (school, work, etc), were do we meet?
   4. What do we put in our disaster kit?
3. Check with your local authorities for natural disasters in your area. They will also give you good ideas on how to prepare for local disasters.

Even in the best emergency scenarios, it can take three or more days before help can arrive. If you want to know how bad disasters can get when unprepared, take a look at what is happening in Myanmar.

Are you ready?