Article: Nature's New Rules (Stonebridge Magazine Spring 2014)
We Canadians are proud of the way we take crazy weather in our stride. We can find inventive ways to get the kids to school when the buses are cancelled, and have no problem lighting candles and fires to get through a few hours without lights or heat. We stoically shovel our way through heavy snow squalls and blizzards. And even the most intense summer thunderstorms fill many of us with a kind of ghoulish glee.But the ice storm this past December set a sobering new benchmark for the way extreme weather can wreak havoc on our lives. An unprecedented number of people were without hydro for several days. Our friends the trees temporarily bedeviled us as the heavy ice brought them crashing down onto homes and cars. And if there were any lingering doubt, we became painfully aware that our electronic devices have become so integrated into our lives that we are almost incapable of functioning efficiently without them.
Communities and organizations were able to see how well their preparations stood up in a real emergency. In many cases, it was not very well. Similarly, the storm exposed our own deficiencies in emergency planning for our homes and families. Many of us might think about storing up sufficient food and water supplies to be prepared for at least 72 hours, as recommended by the Canadian government. However, consider pumping up your emergency preparedness with these strategies:
Have a plan for getting in touch or meeting up with family members in the event of a natural disaster which prevents everyone from getting home or using phones.
Become familiar with the emergency procedures at the places where your family members go to work or school.
Have an emergency kit ready to go for each person in the house. It should contain bottled water, canned food, crank-operated radios and flashlights, extra car and house keys, cash, prescriptions etc.
Make copies of important documents such as passports and wills. They should be given to a trusted friend or family member or kept in a safety deposit box. Our ancestors did not have the benefit of sophisticated instruments and computers to warn them that a severe storm or other event was on the way. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, they were probably better than we are at coping with severe unexpected weather.
Although we can’t control climate change, the science of predicting short-term weather is becoming more accurate all the time. By incorporating these and other planning strategies, and paying careful attention to what the experts can tell us, we can continue to exist in harmony with whatever nature has in store.
For more information, visit, www.getprepared.gc.ca.
