One Year to be Prepared: A Month-By-Month Guide for Emergencies
**This article is part of the “One Year to be Prepared” feature in the January edition of Wik’uuyàm Heetà, the Cow Creek Tribal Newsletter. Each month in 2023, there will be a new emergency preparedness focus, as well as steps you can take now to get ready. Tribal members have access to the full library of newsletters, by logging in and clicking here.**
Preparing your family for a natural disaster, a major storm, or an unknown emergency can be overwhelming. How will you stay warm, or cool? Will you have enough food for your family? What will you drink? Did you remember medications or first aid?
That’s why in 2023, we’re focusing on a year of emergency preparedness, so that all our Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal citizens can focus on safety and formulating a plan.
“We want to help get everyone prepared so that they aren’t relying on resources that may be delayed in a big emergency event,” said Public Safety Administrator Doug Ladd.
Each month during 2023, we’re going to provide a checklist for assembling emergency supplies and help you and your family think though various emergency scenarios. The monthly checklist will also prompt you to consider special circumstances, such as supplies for pets, elders, evacuation routes, and sanitation.
“We’re giving everyone a framework to be organized,” said Emergency Management Director Monte Bryan. “A lot of people have a good understanding of what may happen in disasters and emergencies, but this will help them get focused and coordinated.”
Some of the topics mapped out for each month will be wildfire preparedness and prevention, earthquakes, heat-related emergencies, hazardous materials, and proper food storage. Many of the resources utilized can be found on the national emergency preparedness website, ready.gov.
“Resources and tips like these will help stress levels, should an emergency arise. If you follow these checklists, you’ve already taken care of the basics, and you can focus on more immediate things during the disaster,” said Ladd.
To start, here’s a list of online resources you begin browsing, to assess your own preparedness, and help you critically think about what to be prepared for:
- www.ready.gov – Federal government website on disaster preparedness
- www.dcso.com/alerts – Sign up for alerts from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (Roseburg, Oregon)
- www.weather.gov – National Weather Service
- www.oregongeology.org/tsuclearinghouse/default.htm – Oregon Tsunami Information Clearinghouse
- www.fema.gov – U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration
- www.shakealert.org – Download an app to your phone to receive alerts about nearby earthquakes
Remember to check back on our website each month, or look in your copy of the Wik’uuyàm Heetà Tribal newsletter, for more ways on how you can devote one year to be prepared. We will also assemble all the links to monthly checklists here in this article:
