Emergency Preparedness

CAN YOU SURVIVE FOR 72 HOURS?

Emergencies and disasters can happen anytime: with or without warning; man-made or natural; affecting few or large numbers of people; cover a wide area or be very localized; severe, life-threatening to many or inconveniencing only a few; long-lived or of short duration. Preparing in advance for the unexpected makes sense.

Get Ready NOW. 

Only YOU can prepare the plan that adequately accommodates your circumstances and needs.

Individuals, households, businesses, and communities should always have up-to-date disaster plans and kits. The specifics of these depend on the age and capacity of individuals involved, where folks are at any point in time (home, work, school), other roles anyone might be called upon to play (fireman, law enforcement, medical personnel, town official). It may be necessary to be familiar with the details and expectations of several emergency plans to assure that you act/react most appropriately in a disaster.

 At a minimum:
(1)   Know emergency plans at school and work;
(2)   Develop a Family Communications Plan;
(3)   Create a plan to shelter-in-place and put together a Family Disaster Kit- water and non-perishable food for three days, battery powered radio, flashlight, First Aid Kit, whistle, filter masks, manual can opener, essential medicines for seven days;
(4)   Create a plan to get away (evacuate) and learn alternate routes should main roads be closed;
(5) Speak with neighbors about their emergency plans and how you can help each other during a crisis.

Whitcomb High School is a certified Red Cross Shelter location.  In the event of a disaster, if you are in need of sheltering, please call ahead at 2‑1‑1 to ensure that the shelter is open.

Local municipalities can provide assistance by encouraging citizens to register for a Vermont Alert (VT-ALERT) account. VT-Alert’s can help keep citizens up to date on emergency situations in their areas.

In addition, local municipalities can encourage individuals to prepare for potential flooding or power outages. This can include encouraging individuals to have adequate canned food, water, flashlights, and batteries in the event of a power outage or if they are stranded in their home. 

For more preparedness information visit: https://www.weather.gov/safety/flood or www.vem.vermont.gov/preparedness