Emergency Preparedness

Knowing the different types of risks that surround us, how to react when an emergency impacts us, and having a plan for each can help you and your family get through as safe and unaffected as possible.

Know the risks. Plan. Get a kit.

Basic preparedness actions

• Learn what to do in an emergency by checking out hazards
• Be aware
  • Listen to the local media
  • Sign up for Alberta Emergency Alert
  • Tune into the RMWB website, Twitter or Facebook
  • Arrange with neighbours to tell one another of an emergency notification
• Make a household emergency plan
• Make an emergency kit or “go bag”
• Post emergency phone numbers by every phone
• Be familiar with the emergency plans in your workplace and your child's school or daycare
• Leave backup care arrangements with the school or daycare in case you can't get there right away in an emergency
• Learn first aid and CPR
• Check your insurance:
  • Coverage is available for most major disasters including fire, lightning strikes, windstorms, hail, tornadoes, and others
  • Make sure your policy includes sewer back-up insurance
  • Keep a detailed paper and/or video inventory of your home or business and keep it in your emergency kit
  • Keep all your important documents in a safe location that is easily available
  • Know what your insurance company requires, should you need to make a claim
  • Be aware that government disaster recovery programs will not compensate for damage and loss for which insurance was readily and reasonably available before the disaster occurred
• Audit your home:
  • Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
  • Make sure no flammable materials are kept near electrical equipment or your furnace
  • Check for frayed electrical cords or overloaded circuits
  • Identify all potential exits
  • Learn how to turn off your water and electricity safely
  • Locate safe rooms in your home

Household emergency plan

Emergencies can occur at anytime, anywhere and affect essential services. This forces you to use your own resources for food, water, first aid, transportation, and shelter.

Just like organizations and municipalities, individual and families should prepare too.

Base your plan on the kind of emergencies your region encounters and sit down with your family to discuss what would happen in different situations.

• Maintain a list of the family's required medications, prescribed dosages, and the names and telephone numbers of family doctors
• If you use a pacemaker or other medical equipment, keep the make and model, serial number and other important information with you
• Keep irreplaceable items like family photo albums where they can be quickly accessed if you must leave in a hurry
• Keep important family papers in a portable, fireproof and waterproof container (passports, birth certificates, insurance documents, etc.,)
• Discuss what to do if you and your family members are at different locations when a disaster happens
• Plan for how your family will stay in contact if separated by a disaster or emergency
• Pick two meeting places, one near your home and one outside your neighbourhood
• Meet with your neighbours and plan how you could work together
• Create a list of contact information for close family, friends, and caregivers
• Identify an out-of-town contact person
• Conduct safety drills
• Write down and exercise your plan at least once a year (make sure everyone has it)

Emergency kit (“go bag”)

Resources

• St. John Ambulance
• Get Prepared
• Alberta Emergency Management Agency
• Public Safety Canada – Emergency Management
• Canadian Red Cross