Are you prepared for an emergency? The City of London wants you to be
CBC
The City of London is marking Emergency Preparedness Week by giving Londoners opportunities to learn how and why they should prepare for possible disasters.
The week includes several days of education and events geared toward helping people prepare for the worst, with this year's theme being "Emergencies happen – are you ready?"
"We have to be prepared for any type of emergency, so this could range anything from, tornadoes to a structure collapse, to a train derailment," said Paul Ladouceur, the city's director of emergency management and security services. "Everyone has a a role to play when it comes to being prepared for emergency situations."
The week kicked off with an extrication demonstration by London firefighters, Ladouceur said.
"We don't often think about emergencies until they happen and oftentimes it's too late," he added.
Ladouceur recommends Londoners do things such as making sure they always have gas in their car, have flashlights, batteries, candles and blankets reserved at home, along with having enough food and water to last three days at all times.
On Tuesday, London's Emergency Management Program will be testing its Alert London Notification System at 1:30 p.m. The system is an opt-in program in which emergency notifications can be received through landline, cell phone, text, or e-mail.
"It's designed for things that would directly impact our city. We can actually geo-locate areas to notify residents of a particular area that an emergency may be happening in their neighborhood, for example," Ladouceur explained.
Londoners can sign up to be notified of local emergencies at london.ca/emergency.
The city's alert was planned for Tuesday to coincide with the provincial government's alert system testing which will happen Wednesday at 12:55 p.m.
On Thursday, there will be emergency management displays at Fanshawe College's T building.
The most important event of the week, according to Ladouceur, will be an open house scheduled for Saturday at the city's Emergency Operations Centre, which is attached to London Fire Station 12 at 275 Boler Rd. in Byron.
"It's a state-of-the-art facility and I think it will really be an eye opener for a lot of people," he said.
The open house is expected to include family-oriented activities, emergency preparation guides, interactions with first responders, and a tutorial on how to put together an emergency kit for one's household.