Recent flooding in Colorado has decimated many communities and families are forced to leave their homes with barely a moment’s notice. These families grabbed what they could and fled, many of them not able to return for months – some forever.
Are you prepared to leave your home with a moment’s notice and still have vital information you need? Families who have some basic preparedness plans in place are often more resilient and recover more readily than those who do not.
This week’s Disaster Preparedness Month focus is on the recovery phase of a disaster. The recovery phase begins the minute the disaster happens. Notifications are made and disaster response begins — including long-term recovery plans.
In Colorado, the floods are a particularly devastating natural disaster because not only have individual’s lives been affected, but the entire infrastructure of their communities has been destroyed.
Think of what you rely on to navigate through your daily life: clean fresh water; electricity, roads to travel from one place to another; and access to fresh food. In Colorado, in many cases all of these are gone. Recovery from this event will be long-term and require a tremendous amount of time, resources and money.
Here are just a few examples of what will be needed:
- Social services for displaced families (and their pets).
- Temporary living (after immediate sheltering has ended).
- Safe and complete community clean-up.
- Rebuilding the roads that have been destroyed.
- Repairing and rebuilding homes.
- Re-establishing crops and livestock herds.
- Public health measures aimed at water quality, disease outbreaks, access to health care.
- Mental health care for victims and responders.
This list is just the beginning, and this process will take years. The emotional scars, however, will last a lifetime. By understanding the recovery process and the needs involved, individuals can take steps to prepare themselves in the event of disaster.
- Where could you go if you have to leave your home?
- What would you take with you?
- How can you re-establish your household and what would you need to do so?
If we think critically about this process, we can answer some of these questions before an emergency occurs, and will be more resilient as a result.
Join us on Sept. 30 in the UNMC Scott Student Plaza (rain location, DOC atrium) from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. for a Preparedness Fair to learn more about personal preparedness.