Last week was Emergency Preparedness Week (May 4 – 10) and recent severe weather in the United States is a good example of disasters happening in an instant.
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So now you’re prepared and have your emergency kit packed and stored somewhere easily accessible in times of disaster, but should that happen, what do you have in your kit to eat?
In preparing for an emergency, the Canadian Red Cross has a lot of information on how to plan for times that take us by surprise at www.redcross.ca/ready. Every household should have an emergency preparedness kit to help you get through the first 72 hours after a disaster strikes.
Six months since Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Visayas region of the Philippines last November, the Red Cross has so far provided shelter and non-food items to 2.75 million people and over the next two years will help 800,000 survivors rebuild their lives.
There’s no question that Canada has had its fair share of challenging weather over the last year. Just think back to the Alberta floods or the ice storm that hit Eastern Canada. There have been an unusually high number of severe weather situations that have kept Red Cross disaster teams on high alert across the country.
About 30 Canadian Red Cross Disaster Management volunteers and staff helped kick off Emergency Preparedness Week, May 4-10, at Toronto City Hall this week. Red Crossers were on hand to teach Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly how to set up cots for a shelter and share information to help Torontonians be ready for disasters.
Some Canadians don’t believe a disaster will happen in their community, yet, last year, many Canadians experienced disasters through events such as the Lac-Megantic derailment, Alberta floods and Toronto ice storm, as well as personal disasters like house fire or flooding. Are you prepared in case of an emergency? Join us on May 7 at 3 pm EDT for a live Twitter chat on emergency preparedness using the hashtag #BeReady.
On April 16, a ferry carrying 476 people sank off the southwest coast of the Republic of Korea. The Korean Red Cross mobilized and deployed its volunteers that day with relief items and mobile kitchen vehicles to the disaster.