Part 1: Making a plan
Preparing for a Civil Defence event
As we all know, Westland is the Last Best Place. However, living here does have its challenges. These include cyclones, flooding, earthquakes, fires and pandemics. The best prepared community is the one where everyone is prepared to look after themselves. One way of doing this is to have a household plan. This is part 1 of a 5-part series helping you to create your household plan.
Having a household plan is a good idea because when events happen, our ability to contact our families is disrupted, and we might not have easy access to plentiful food from supermarkets or shops. We may even have to leave our homes. Ensuring that you have food and supplies for your family and pets is a crucial part of looking after them. It doesn’t all need to be done straight away – anything something is better than nothing. Many families put away a little bit at a time; an extra can of beans each week can build up into a good store over a short period of time.
Making sure that you have a torch, radio and batteries, or ones that wind up is incredibly helpful in an event like an earthquake as most information will come through on the radio if power or other forms of communication are down.
You can find more information about what supplies you might need here.
You can also find a plan template (multiple languages) here – stay tuned for part 2: Meeting up!
Photo: Westland District Council
