Emergency Preparedness

Now is a good time to begin your preparedness effort. Start today by organizing a meeting with neighbors, co-workers and school officials to plan for possible emergencies.

Because floods, fires, earthquakes and other emergencies present us with more challenges to solve in a fast-pace world, we need to work with our neighbors, co-workers and school officials to prepare for these emergencies. The City of La Verne, Bonita School District, neighboring cities and County already have plans to use in the event of a major problem. However during a major emergency such as an earthquake there may be hundreds of requests for fire or medical assistance, way more than we can immediately provide. Your first assistance may come from neighbors or co-workers, if you have an emergency plan in place. This a good time to meet with those neighbors and co-workers to establish that mutual plans.

Find people who might be interested in helping with a Planning Committee first, which would help set goals for a following emergency preparedness and response program meeting. Use the table below as a guide for identifying possible people for your Planning Committee.

• Neighborhood Business School
• Neighbors
• Community Leaders
• Business Owners
• Fire Department
• Police Department
• Healthcare Providers
• American Red Cross Owner
• Risk Manager
• Personnel Officer
• Dept. Managers
• Facility Coordinator
• Employees Principal
• Risk Manager
• Faculty Members
• Staff
• Parents
• Students

Members of the Planning Committee should meet together before the first meeting, to set goals for your emergency preparedness and response program.

Plan your meeting after you've spoken to people who might be interested. Organize the meeting by developing goals and setting an agenda. Some of the goals of your first meeting may be to:

• Discuss emergency threats.
• Stress the need to prepare.
• Inventory supplies, equipment and tools.
• Assess the skills of interested persons.
• Determine dates and times for future meetings.

Invite someone from your local emergency agency, fire department, law enforcement agency or local chapter of the American Red Cross to talk about the hazards that threaten you area and what you can do to be prepared.