in a meaningful way. And, conversely, if there
are too many of you, then communication and
coordination could be cumbersome.
Maybe it’s the apartments on your floor, or in
your building. Maybe it’s a string of households
on your block. At the very least then, if a crisis
arises, you immediately know there is a group
of people who you can reach out to and who can
reach out to you. And believe me, that will go a
long way to managing that fear — and may prove
life saving for all of you.
So, how to start one of these LERNs? Well,
you could print up a bunch of flyers explaining
the concept (with a copy of this article if you think
that’ll help) and stick them in people’s mailboxes
or tape them to their doors. If someone is
more concerned with their privacy than their
safety, that’s of course their prerogative. But I’m
guessing you shouldn’t have much trouble finding
enough takers. And from there, all you need
do is throw a party with all those interested to
discuss the idea and how you all want to structure
things. Perhaps each member of the group could
focus on a different resource: medical supplies,
generators, extra food, or water. Or the group
could pool its resources to purchase some of
those things to be stored at a central point.
Or maybe all you want to do is exchange phone
numbers and emails. You can sort out the details
however you want. But establishing aknown
community of people near youis in all likelihood
the very best way to prepare for — and survive
— when a crisis hits. You may also discover it’s
a nice thing to have, should just you or someone
else in the group have an individual crisis that
might require an assist. Who knows, you could
even make some new friends. Really, when you
think about it, there’s not much of a downside to
this and there could be a whole lot of upside.
Because, whether you care to admit it or
not,we are now all in this together. If nothing else,
the pandemic made that abundantly clear. And
all those systems we’ve come to depend on are
clearly not as robust and reliable as we once
thought. So, it’s time to look to ourselvesfor how
to deal with the unexpected — and the fear of it.
Or, as I like to put it, the world has changed …
and we areallMacGyvers now.
37
make.co
A
The Ripple Eect
By Joseph Pred
So you’ve MacGyvered your fear and
you want to build resilience through a
supportive network. Are you overwhelmed
with all the different ways you could
potentially do that? Let me introduce you
to the ripple effect model for emergency
preparedness, which, along with an
incremental approach, will significantly
improve your disaster resilience.
You don’t have to do all the training and
preparedness at once. Instead, over time,
you incrementally add capacity by adding
layers, or ripples, to the resources you have
available. Picture a rock being thrown into
a pond and the ripples that emanate from
it. The center is you, and the first ripple is
your household. These are the two most
important preparedness domains you can
have a meaningful impact on. Focus on the
training and supplies that will sustain you
and your family first.
But no matter how well prepared or
trained you are, there will be other skills
or resources you won’t have. Leverage the
skills you do have with those of your next
ripple, your immediate neighbors, to see
who can do what. That’s the idea of a local
emergency response network.
One of the best ways to get more training
and experience with the next ripple out,
being of service to your community, is by
joining a Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT). Not only will you be able to
help others, but the skills you gain — such
as fire safety, search and rescue, and
disaster medical operations — will also
help you with the ripples that matter most,
those which are closest to home. Learn
more at ready.gov/cert.
JOSEPH PRED
is an emergency
and risk manager who specializes
in public safety for events and
temporary mass gatherings,
including Burning Man and Maker
Faire. His most recent book is The Essential
Pandemic Survival Guide. mars911.info
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