San Rafael, CA – Watching news clips of Hurricane Harvey’s devastating blow to the Gulf Coast region and the current threat of Hurricane Irma has emphasized the importance of disaster preparedness. It serves as a reminder that everyone, even residents of Marin County, is vulnerable to nature’s wrath.
Do you have emergency supplies packed and ready? If not, make time to do it soon.
September is
National Preparedness Month, and officials in several County of Marin departments are urging residents to prioritize the preparations for storms, floods, fires, earthquakes and other disruptive calamities.
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) is the local coordinator for disaster response efforts. The OES team, headquartered at the Sheriff’s Office in San Rafael, works closely with the Marin County Fire Department, the Marin Department of Health and Human Services and other local agencies work to ensure that designated people are trained and ready to respond to local hazards. The agencies understand that preparedness is an essential part of a community’s ability to respond, recover, and support the Ready Marin campaign mantra whenever possible – be informed, make a plan, build a kit and get involved.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors plans to recognize National Preparedness Month on September 19 and urges residents to set aside time to gather survival items and make emergency plans.
“We know that our residents trust that government agencies will be there to help them when it’s needed most, especially right after a major disaster,” said Chris Reilly, Manager of Marin OES. “We prepare, we drill and we train all year long so our personnel know what to do in in response to imminent threats or big disasters. Getting our local residents to prepare on their own is a big part of our message.”
One way to stay connected is through the free Alert Marin notification system. Residents can register cell phones or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) devices to receive emergency alerts sent by phone call, text or email on the County’s recently upgraded notification service. More than 20,000 people have already registered. It only takes about one minute to register on www.alertmarin.org.
“These days people are relying on social media to get the latest news during a disaster,” Reilly said, “but the best thing about Alert Marin is that it’s coming straight from the professionally trained specialists who closely monitor the situation and make sure the information can be trusted.”
Marin OES is emphasizing how important it is to get information to residents who are not connected to social media.
“Some people are more connected and online-savvy than others, and we need those people to be advocates and messengers on our behalf,” Reilly said. “We’re finding alternative ways to promote our campaign, but word of mouth is extremely effective. We’d love it if everybody who is already registered with Alert Marin tried to recruit another local person to sign up.”
Interested in learning more about preparedness? There is a lot of great advice on the Ready Marin website. Follow the Sheriff’s Office on Twitter @marinsheriff and sign up for Nixle alerts at www.nixle.com or by texting your ZIP code to 888777.