Community-Wide Disaster Planning

If you think FEMA has endless resources for endless emergencies; think again.

FEMA has limits.

   Every city, township and village needs their own Community-Wide disaster plan, tailored to their own needs, resources and situations.

   Every 90 days, I'm going to hold a district workshops at our local Moose Lodge, for all mayors/council members/city managers; for developing their community-wide disaster plans.

   My Goal: By the end of my first term, I want every city in the 13th district to be at a disaster planning point of readiness, where they are running drills and staged scenarios.

   Below is a basic outline to follow. 

 Please feel free to use this for your city and modify towards your own priorities, resources and situations.

   If your city has no interest in putting a disaster plan together, then I strongly suggest YOU  run for local office and make it happen.

Section 02:

   A basic outline and steps to take:

Please note: This is modified per city, depending on resources, political culture and community involvment.

  Each city should pick 3 to 5 scenarios to plan for, with the understanding that each scenario is broad enough for other applications.

Section 03:

   A major part of this is taking your existing CERT team to another level. When does a mayor deputize CERT and other volunteers?

  Again, this is about mustering enough resources for the task at hand.

Section 04: 

    This plan you are considering has nothing to do with police and Fire protocols. Those are items already in place.

  This about everything else a city can do.

Disaster Plan: City/Township Outline

Set Time-Lines and goals: 

At each quarterly meeting, I'm going to be a real task-master and keep every community moving forward.

Situation 01: 

Grid down scenario, no power for up to 7 days.

Community resources to implement the following.

Situation 02: 

Grid down scenario, no power for 8 days to 14 days.

Community resources to implement the following.

Situation 03: 

Fire dept. and Police station compromised.

Suggest a back-up emergency command center. For the following reasons:

Situation 04: 

Chemical spill or other HAZMAT incidents, affecting one area of the city. How do we evacuate a neighborhood, and where do we relocate them? Schools, Churches, City facilities.

Situation 05: 

Active Shooter or Bomber, at a school or city facility. How do we set up a large parameter for containment, and what churches and other buildings near each possible site, can be used as staging areas.