Emergencies such as floods and house fires can happen to anyone, and in many cases, quite unexpectedly. In polling conducted by the Canadian Red Cross in 2012, 66% of respondents said they had not taken steps to prepare for disasters, thinking it’s not going to happen to them. But disasters affecting Canadians do happen every day.
That’s what Haley Overland and her family discovered this past winter when their home flooded as a consequence of the extended power outage caused by the ice storm that struck the Toronto area. She never imagined that this could happen to her and felt shock and disbelief.
Photos of damage in Haley's home after the flooding
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Here’s how Haley described the ordeal that turned her family’s life upside down over the past several months on her
blog:
“Our house had flooded, it turns out, because of the eight-day blackout during that infamous Christmas ice storm. We did everything we could while we were away to ensure the pipes didn’t freeze. But it was the radiator that burst in my bedroom. Boiling hot water poured out and started pumping through the ceilings, walls, when the furnace sensed the rad was losing water. We’re probably very lucky we weren’t there when it happened.” - Haley Overland
While it may not be possible to prevent disasters from occurring, being prepared for emergencies can help families like Haley’s better cope with an emergency situation and move forward with the process of recovering and rebuilding.
Knowing the risks
The first step to being prepared for emergencies is
knowing the risks you are facing. These risks are specific to your community, your neighbourhood and even your home. They include natural disasters and weather-related emergencies – everything from severe storms and earthquakes, to floods, tornadoes, forest fires and more – as well as other types of hazards, industrial or man-made, such as the devastating train derailment in Lac-Mégantic last summer.
Before a disaster strikes, the Red Cross encourages families to take time to identify their risks, by getting in touch with their municipality, using the
Canadian Disaster Database and visiting
www.redcross.ca/ready.
And when a disaster does strike, family resiliency can go a long way to overcoming challenges.
“You just have to keep smiling. Indeed, things like this really cast into relief what matters: we’re healthy, we’re together — who cares about the rest.”