Lessons from Deployment - Locals are important to the mission

In January I was deployed by Shelter Box to respond to massive flooding in Malaysia for three weeks; when I return I always do a lessons learned for my department. They are often not lessons we can utilize in Public Health but still important in the larger Emergency Management community.

Two of those lessons have been bouncing around in my head along with reading Patrick Meier’s book Digital Humanitarians

• Locals are important to the mission
• People want to help, they just need direction

No matter what, “locals are important to the success of the mission”. 

I volunteer in a situation where after a usually long plane ride I am dropped into someone else’s disaster with a teammate.  And in a very short amount of time we accomplish some amazing things.  It is because we realize as an organization we can’t do anything substantial without local help. So lets bring this closer to home.  
 

 

In my recent deployment to Malaysia I had a couple of interpreters I worked with, they were both great; but I realized beyond the language, they knew the people. They would tell me when they thought someone was not being truthful, or needed help but weren’t identified, or taught me about the culture. 

You may live in the affected community, but you probably don’t speak all the languages of the affected population and you don’t understand from their point of view (economic, religious, etc.) how this disaster is affecting them.   

I recently saw a National Guard recruiting poster in the airport that showed 2 Guardsmen comforting a woman and the bubble above one soldiers head said “She lives 5 miles from here”. That was a powerful message to me.  We need to utilize the local spontaneous volunteer where we can, realizing they are going to come.

No matter what I respond to in the future (Even if I speak the language) I will employ a volunteer guide. Someone from the affected community, but not of the affected population.  Someone who can help me find my way to help those in need.

Checklist

• Understand your population and make contacts there
• Don't be afraid to ask that population for help (I know you are there to help them, but you need them to do that)
• Decide how you will activate, badge, give access to
• How will you make sure you aren't showing favoritism to that person in the community? It could hurt their standing
• How do you make sure they aren't taking advantage of you in the situation? It could hurt your standing

Remember the disaster happens to our/their community - connect and do the best you can. Locals are important.

Disasterdave

The 7 rules for protecting your valuables BEFORE disaster strikes

 This is not an endorsement of the 
company that authored

Flood Damaged home in Serbia

the article at the link below, but an endorsement of doing some serious planning for the loss of your home.  I know no one likes to think their home may burn down but they do. In 2013 the NFPA documented 1,240,000 house fires. Or that a quake or other natural disaster may make your home uninhabitable.

Document your goods
I can remember in the 70's inventorying my household goods before they were shipped to Europe, it was boring, and a hard slog. Writing down serial numbers, colors, etc.

But today all you need is your smart phone and a note pad.
So this holiday season make it a fun opportunity, grab a loved one, a glass of eggnog, your smart phone and go on a hunt to document your valuables.  Focus on Art work, collections, Jewelry, electronics. (Don't forget to take a picture of any notes you made- serial numbers, Cost, etc.) Snap away, then upload to a website (Yahoo, MSN, DropBox) something that will survive if your house doesn't.  I wrote back in 2011 about using the web to store valuable documents, and the same goes for pictures of your valuables. You can review it here and another one here.  I either own the internet or think its a good idea :)

So here is the article, get started.
The 7 rules for protecting your valuables BEFORE disaster strikes http://tinyurl.com/q8a2tmp

Happy Holidays

disaster_dave

All Hazard

Often times you will hear Emergency Management in your communities talk about "All Hazard Planning", what you may not hear is the words "Risk Based".  While the planning process lays out who does what in a disaster, we do want begin planning for the most likely and build our planning effort towards less likely events.

So as you and your family, friends look at what to prepare for start with this nice info-graph from Homeownersinsurance.org. 

Also take some time to chat with your insurance agent about your coverage. 

Back to the info-graph, find your state, look at the hazards for that state and start from their. 
I live in Washington State and it list forest fire, but I live in the city of Seattle so that is not a high concern for my family (but what about smoke?, What if you are on vacation on the other side of the mountain during fire season?) All good questions, that should inform your preparedness.


As a bonus here is FEMA's State and Local Guide (SLG) 101 Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning

Happy Sunday
Disaster_Dave

L.A. Prepares for the Big Quake Amid the Questions of When and How Large - Is your city prepared

 My promise in the beginning was not to use scare tactics and to try to make things bite sized for you to prepare for disasters in Where to Start. 
This week I read with interest how  Los Angeles has begun to look at the pieces in the public forum so their citizens understand it. They have been planning for a long time, but articles like this one show you the citizen the types of things they are worried about and planning for.
LA Prepares for the Big Quake Amid Questions of When and How Large  Its long (more than 30 seconds) but worth the time to read it all.

Why do I think its important citizens read this? Really two reasons:  
1.  Honestly, most of what we do in emergency management is not recognized by the public as it seldom produces perceptible results to the public in the short term.  But it does produce things that may save lives in the long term.  Pay attention to the discussions of water and transport in the article.  Pay attention as your government makes budget cuts, if the Emergency Managers are on that cut list you WILL have a harder time surviving and recovering from a catastrophic event. 

 2.   If you read this piece and pay attention to the main points they are making you can look at your planning and say okay I need to do a little more in that category, and that one looks good for now. But you are conscience of the need, and that makes it more focused.

And if you read this and think, okay I have put this off long enough- awesome. Start here and dig in, a little at a time, planning takes time.

Good Planning
Disaster_Dave




 

You've lost that preparedness feeling (sung to the tune of "You've lost that loving feeling")

Why do we constantly talk about preparedness?  I know some people may tire of it, but its necessary.  Why? 

Well we do not have it as part of our memory and or we think it can't happen to us.  Lets look at two examples; one of a group who survived not because they had a back pack by the front door (a good idea though) but because they recognized the danger as it had been passed down and another group that didn't follow their traditions. 

In 2004 the Tsunami in the Indian ocean killed over 230,000 people in multiple places, but one island had zero deaths or casualties.  The Andaman Islands inhabited by the Mokens (Sea Gypsy's). When rescuers arrived they found them safely atop a hill!  Their culture had passed down stories that when the great water receded it would flood the land.  

And in 2009 the earthquake that hit L'Aquila that killed 309 people and pretty much destroyed every home.  This is a case where the scientist were convicted of sending a message that..."interfered with the local “earthquake culture”, a set of entrenched habits and reactions such as, for example, that of spending the night outdoors after the occurrence of medium shocks."

So what does your culture or habits in our modern wired always on society tell you to survive and thrive after a disaster? I'm not sure, but surveys seem to say we aren't prepared for the hazards we face.  A 2009 survey showed 57% reported making some plans, but only 44% had a household plan where to go and and what to do (think like a Moken).

So we keep repeating the message and asking you to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

And now you probably want to hear the song here

Disaster Dave

The headline says it all

This morning Napa and SF were awakened by an Earthquake, and the headline read

"The Bay Area just got hit with its largest earthquake in 25 years".

So why is that important? I often hear people say things like "Earthquakes happen on a longer schedule, it may not happen in my lifetime".  Excuse me, I would like to point out that twice in 25 years is a pretty short life.  So for those of us in a seismic  area, can we all just change our posture a little and understand that it could happen in our lifetime (pretty sure I have at least 25 more years).

And for the rest of America and the world, Hurricanes, Cyclones, Tornadoes, house fires, forest fires, ice storms, power outages (I know I left some out) don't really have a "geological clock " so you need to prepare too.

So where to start, if you aren't a reader of mine here are some links to posts I have written on planning and preparation.

Northwest Quake - where will you be  

Can you find all your important documents...

MITIGATION

and my most recent post   Its about an investment......In your family's well being.

 Don't do everything today, but get started. tick,tick tick.

DisasterDave

 

Its about an investment...

...In your family's well being.

According to the National Priorities Project we have spent somewhere north of $767,000,000,000 on Homeland security since 2001and sadly we really don't know what it has bought us. But this isn't about what we did or did not get, this is about how much have you spent since 2001 (or this year) on making sure your family is ready for The Apocalypse (just kidding). 
But really are you ready for the next storm season? Check here in September for the forecast for this winter.
Do you have an evacuation plan in case there is a forest fire? 
Do you have water stored? Why store water, that's silly, there is water in my tap. Did you see Toledo's water warnings ?

So look at your local grocery and watch for sales on bottled water and stock up on a couple of cases per person (and don't forget Fido he drinks water too)

Put away a few cans of Dinty Moore beef stew & bags of rice

Get trained in Wilderness First Aid    Usually available through REI.

Take some time this summer and prepare just a few steps. You will be glad you did... when something happens and you have made an investment and are prepared. 

Happy dog Days of August 
DisasterDave