Region provides household emergency preparedness tips during National Emergency Preparedness Week

King Township Fire Chief Bryan Burbidge showed Township councillors some of the items their emergency preparedness kit should contain, including things like changes of clothing, lighters, etc.

Is your family ready for an emergency or disaster?

York Region is highlighting the simple steps that families and individuals can take to lessen the impact during the first 72 hours of an emergency or disaster as part of National Emergency Preparedness Week, which runs through to this Saturday (May 12).

"Emergencies can strike any time with little or no warning," said York Chairman Bill Fisch. "While we usually can't prevent disasters from occurring, households, schools and workplaces can mitigate the negative effects of disasters by being emergencyprepared."

Possible events that could affect York include chemical spills, prolonged power outages (blackouts), infectious disease outbreaks, severe weather events (thunderstorms, tornadoes, extreme heat and winter storms) or floods.

During this week, the Region is promoting a newly revised Emergency Preparedness Guide, which includes step-by-step instructions for preparing and dealing with different emergency situations and for assembling an emergency preparedness kit.

York Emergency Management program encourages all individuals and family households to take the following steps towards being emergency prepared.

Make a Plan

In creating a family emergency preparedness plan, it is important to meet with household members and discuss how the family will respond to an emergency or disaster.

For example, if you were forced to evacuate, would you remember to bring important medications? Would you be able to locate important family documents, such as health cards and bank documents? If you were confined to your home, would you have sufficient food, water and supplies for at least 72 hours?

Any plan should be especially mindful of family members with special needs, such as infants and seniors. A household emergency plan must also include any family pets.

Make a Kit

Equally important is creating a family emergency preparedness kit and to keep the items that you would most likely need during an evacuation in an easy-tocarry container or backpack. The essential contents include bottled water; nonperishable food items; firstaid kit; personal care items, clothing and bedding; windup flashlight and radio; diapers, formula and toys for infants and children; medications for seniors; and important family documents and papers.

Copies of York Region's Emergency Preparedness Guide can be obtained by visiting the Information Kiosk in the Great Hall of the York Region Administrative Centre, at 17250 Yonge St. in Newmarket, or by visiting The Region's Web site at www.york.ca