Residents reminded to prepare for emergencies

By Tim Kalinowski on May 5, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced more people to re-align themselves toward being prepared for emergencies, concedes Luke Palmer, City of Lethbridge Emergency Preparedness Manager, he would like to see more people in the city putting time and effort into constructing their own household emergency response plans and 72-hour kits.
“It’s definitely hit or miss,” Palmer explained to reporters this week, citing statistics which show only about one-third of Canadians admit to having undertaken efforts to be more prepared when disaster or emergency strikes.
“Preparedness is tough,” he acknowledged. “Life happens. We’ve got work, we have got life, and things do get in the way. That is why we are recommending taking small steps every day.”
Palmer said it could be as simple as going out of your way to get to know your neighbours a bit better, or putting aside an extra can of beans here and there after an afternoon of shopping.
The key is always to be incrementally building up your emergency response capacity, Palmer stated.
May 2-8 is officially dubbed Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada, and Palmer said it is always an excellent time of year to remind Lethbridge residents to be ready should disaster arrive at our community’s doorstep.
“This year’s theme is ‘Being Prepared for Anything,'” stated Palmer, “which we feel is very fitting given we have been in a pandemic for the last year and a little bit here. Much of the mindset of the community is likely on the pandemic, but we really want to make sure that people, especially as we go into the summer months, are thinking about the other hazards that are present in our city.”
In conjunction with Emergency Preparedness Week the City of Lethbridge is also launching its latest online survey on local emergency preparedness and the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 in people’s lives. The information gleaned from the survey, which closes May 14, will help the City fine-tune its planning to be more responsive to the needs of residents, said Palmer.
To view and take part in the survey visit http://www.lethbridge.ca/covidsurvey.
Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter

Follow @@TimKalHerald on Twitter

Comments are closed.