Darwin Jimerson

Meadow Creek Park Emergency Planning and Information 

Neighborhoods that are prepared for emergencies and disaster situations save lives, reduce the severity of injuries and trauma and reduce property damage. In addition, contributing as an individual and working together as a team helps develop stronger communities and improve the quality of life in the community.

The Map Your Neighborhood program guides you and your neighbors through simple steps to help enhance your preparedness for an emergency. These steps will help you to quickly and safely take actions that can minimize damage and protect lives. It is designed to improve disaster readiness at the neighborhood level and teaches neighbors to rely on each other during the hours or days before fire, medical, police or utility responders arrive.Type your paragraph here.

• ​​Learn the first 9 Steps to Take Immediately Following a Disaster to secure your home and protect your neighborhood. It is hard to think clearly following disaster. These steps will help you to quickly and safely take actions that can minimize damage and protect lives.
  
• Identify the Skills and Equipment Inventory each neighbor has that are useful in an effective disaster response. Knowing which neighbors have supplies and skills ensures a timely response to a disaster and allows everyone to contribute to the response in a meaningful way.
  
• Create a Neighborhood Map identifying the locations of natural gas and propane tanks for quick response if needed.
  
• Create a Neighborhood Contact List that identifies those with specific needs such as the elderly, those with a disability, or homes where children may be alone during certain hours of the day.
  
• Work together as a team to evaluate your neighborhood after a disaster and take the necessary actions.

• Designed to improve disaster readiness at the neighborhood level (generally neighborhoods = 15-25 urban homes; 5-7 in rural areas and can be implemented in condos and apartment complexes). Teaches neighbors to rely on each other during the hours or days before fire, medical, police, or utility responders arrive. Takes just one person to begin this process by inviting the neighborhood to his or her home for a 90-minute meeting, facilitated by the program DVD. Craig Fugate, FEMA Director commented that there needs to be something to “fill the gap” between CERT and individual preparedness - MYN is that program. ◦ IAEM’s first place in the State/Regional Public Awareness Category, 2009 ◦ FEMA’s Challenge Award: http://blog.fema.gov/2011/06/and-challengegov-winner-is.html, 2011 ◦ FEMA’s Individual & Community Program Award: Innovative Training and Education Programs http://www.citizencorps.gov/councils/awards/2011/awardwinners2011.shtm, 2011 Program Components (accomplished in a 90-minute neighborhood meeting):  
  
• 9-Step Response Plan begins at home and then reaches throughout the neighborhood. It teaches what to do to save a life, reduce the severity of injuries, reduce emotional distress, and decrease property and environmental damage. ​Skill & Equipment Inventory saves response time by identifying who in the neighborhood has relevant response skills and equipment. Neighborhood Map created during the neighborhood meeting pinpoints the exact locations of natural gas meters and propane tanks, recognizing the single biggest source of neighborhood fire (about 67%) following disaster is natural and propane gas leaks. 
  
• Contact List identifies who in the neighborhood may have specific needs following the disaster, including those who are elderly, neighbors with disability, or those home alone. Program Materials: 
  
• MYN Neighbor Handout: contains the 9-Step Response Plan, Skill & Equipment Inventory, Neighborhood Map & Contact List, Help / OK card. Available in English and Spanish. 
  
• MYN Discussion Guide: designed as a ‘script’ for MYN’s DVD and can be easily read if a DVD player is not available. Other supporting materials include information on how to implement in vertical and rural neighborhoods. 
  
• MYN DVD: produced in a play-pause-discuss format and is subtitled in English, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, and close-captioned for the hearing impaired. 
  
• MYN CD: supporting materials includes the Discussion Guide, meeting invitation, promotional flyer, brochure, reporting tool, and database. 
  
• Personal Preparedness: Prepare in a Year (PIY) and Getting Ready Home programs offer step-by-step instructions, compelling photos, and streaming videos which educate people on how they can prepare their families and homes to better survive disasters (only available online). Additionally: 
  
• Forty-four (44) states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico have expressed interest in MYN - finding it to be a cost effective and time efficient approach to neighborhood preparedness. England, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Canada have also inquired about MYN for possible implementation in their area. 
  
• has a proven track record. The program was first utilized during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in Sunnyvale, California. During the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, 92% of 460 organized neighborhoods in Seattle reported responding in a timely and organized manner to the needs of their neighbors.

The damage caused by natural disasters and man made events can be extensive. While emergency services personnel are the best trained and equipped to handle emergencies, they may not be immediately available in a catastrophic disaster. In such a situation, members of the community may be on their own for several days or longer. They may have to rely on their own resources for food, water, first aid, and shelter, and neighbors or coworkers may have to provide immediate assistance to those who are hurt or need other help.

Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) respond in the period immediately after a disaster when response resources are overwhelmed or delayed. CERTs are able to:

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• Assist emergency services personnel when requested in accordance with standard operating procedures developed by the sponsoring agency and by area of training
  
•  Assume some of the same functions as emergency services personnel following a disaster While CERTs are a valuable asset in emergency response, CERTs are not trained to perform all of the functions or respond to the same degree as professionalresponders. CERTs are a bridge to professional responders until they are able to arrive. This training covers basic skills that are important to know in a disaster when emergency services are not immediately available. By learning how to work as a team, neighbors and coworkers will be able to do the greatest good for the greatest number after a disaster.