Each year the government of Canada establishes a National Emergency Preparedness Week.  Now is a great time for us to think about how well prepared we are at home and at school.  We are encouraged to be ready for 72 hours without outside support at home.

The experts suggest that we each follow these steps:

1. Know the risks
2. Make a plan
3. Get a kit

We are working towards more emergency preparedness at school, too.  If you are interested in reading up on the district’s health & safety, you can check out their website.  There are policies, minutes of safety meeting and other relevant information.  Each school is responsible for their own plan.  The PAC can help out by managing emergency preparedness supplies, organizing comfort kits and providing information for the parent community (like this!).  If you are interested in emergency preparedness at school, contact one of the PAC members.

Some of the emergencies that we should be prepared for are: earthquakes, tsunamis, severe weather and other potential dangers, such as disease and hazardous materials.  Salt Spring’s emergency programs are “pods” which coordinated by the CRD.   You can check out the “pod” information here.

Some resources for parents to review:

• Get Prepared: http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/index-eng.aspx
• Canadian Red Cross information: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=22059&tid=025
• Facing Fear – a program designed by the red cross to help kids face their fears: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=9899&tid=025
• This site is geared towards kids and gives them scenarios to prepare for using online games: http://www.msp.gouv.qc.ca/jeunesse/catastrophe/catastrophe_en.html
• British Columbia’s Emergency Preparedness program: http://www.pep.bc.ca/index.html
• Emergency Preparedness at School - a comprehensive list of resources from SafeCanada: http://www.safecanada.ca/link_e.asp?category=4&topic=219

Please feel free to download the files on the right: A 36 page booklet to help you write your plan is “national-eng” and a comprehenisve list of supplies to put in your emergency preparedness kit is “ep-shop-list-eng”.