Preparing for Emergencies

Overview

When a series of natural disasters and emergencies hit your community, everyone realizes that people were not prepared for the consequences. Now, you and your health department colleagues are organizing the resources needed to better prepare your community to recognize the dangers and avoid health risks.

Will your presentations at a town hall meeting be what your community needs to prepare for the next natural disaster and emergency?

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

Explain why natural disasters occur and how they might be predicted.
Describe the characteristics of several natural disasters.
Identify where natural disasters/emergencies occur most often.
Describe how natural disasters can be measured.
Identify the major health risks of natural disasters.
List ways to prepare for natural disasters.
Create a plan for informing a community of the risks of natural disasters and how to avoid them.

Scenario

You just came from a meeting with city,

county and state officials. Everyone is very

concerned by the recent emergencies that

have occurred in your area.

As a county health officer, you have a

critical role in providing the latest information on health risks in your community and the latest round of natural disasters has everyone worried. Several natural disasters and emergencies have hit your community as well as surrounding areas in your state. You have never experienced so many emergency situations that seem to happen so quickly!

It is clear that people in your community have not been prepared for the emergencies. They seem unaware of the health risks associated with natural disasters and you know that many of the injuries and illnesses could have been prevented with a little more knowledge and preparation.

Your job is to protect your community from threats to their health and to inform them of ways to stay healthy and injury-free. You can hardly blame them for being unprepared for the different types of emergencies that have plagued your community and nearby states recently. They caught everyone off-guard!

You suggest that more information is needed for the public. You propose to form committees at your county health office to consider all the important facts of natural disasters and emergency situations. Your committees will gather the information needed by the community and present the information at a public meeting. You and your co-workers on the committee will also be able to make recommendations concerning preparation and how to avoid health risks of disasters.

The mayor suggests that you and your colleagues present the facts at a town hall meeting soon to discuss the information and answer any questions that come from the audience. He schedules the meeting for next week!

Your Tasks

Make a presentation that will provide the information about a specific natural disaster. Choose one of the following:

► Earthquakes

► Volcanic Eruptions

► Hurricanes

► Tornadoes

► Floods

► Wildfires

Research information to prepare for your presentation. Include detailed information on why the disaster/emergency occurs and what people can do to prepare.

Create a plan for preparing your community for future disasters. How will you make sure people know all the facts about the disaster and the risks involved? What will you do to get the information out to the public?

Prepare a presentation for your town meeting. You can use any kind of presentation aid available to you, including a poster display or PowerPoint. (Your teacher may have other requirements.)