“Over the past decade, those of us who live on B.C.’s west coast have reached saturation point from the dire media predictions of “The Big One”. Newspaper headlines quote with scientific certainty that a Lower Mainland earthquake, estimated to be up to 1,000 times more powerful than the January 1994 quake in Los Angeles, will happen here – the only question is when. Tomorrow or 20 years from now? Even in the sanctity of our own living rooms we’re inundated with TV satellite coverage of quakes that devastate entire downtown cores, and leave citizens homeless or dead in Iraq, Tokyo, or Los Angeles.”
Back in 1994 when I first started to investigate personal emergency prepared and found that there were not a lot of organized resources available, I wrote the Emergency Planning Manual and Workbook – Your Earthquake Survival Guide, from which this quote was taken.
Much has changed since then of course, particularly in the areas of technology, media, and communications. The growth in the Internet since 1994 has allowed for a massive increase in the number of available emergency planning resources ranging from text format to video format to e-book formats. What has not changed is the need for individuals to prepare for a range of emergencies and reluctance of many to address this topic.
The goals of the workshop are to foster the motivation for emergency planning as well to help participants to navigate through the staggering quantity of resources in order to develop a plan that makes sense for them and their families.
Enjoy!