In light of our recent discussion, and the current situation in Japan, I couldn’t help but focus this week’s blog on the city’s role in disaster prevention. Even though the weather is suspect, the days are short, and the winters are long, we often forget how fortunate we are to be living in the city of Edmonton. Unlike New Orleans, San Francisco, and Tokyo (to name a few examples), we as Edmontonians do not have to worry about the prospect of a massive natural disaster. With that said, however, I can’t help but consider the importance of crisis prevention planning, mitigation and education in any major city—regardless of the frequency of environmental emergency.
Living in Alberta for the past 23 years, I have received little education (beyond the severe weather warnings issued by Environment Canada) on the province’s, or country’s for that matter, contingency plan. If there were to be a disaster in Alberta, I imagine many citizens would not know what to do or where to seek refuge. Consequently, I believe the lack of disaster contingency planning would force people to rely on their most basic survival instincts. This primal feature, inherent to all of humanity, could very well lead to pandemonium without proper instruction. As such, I feel the Canadian government should be more active, organized and public with respect to their crisis contingency planning.
I could not agree with you more :P My fiance wants to move to California for work in the next couple of years and I can't help but worry I'm going to wake up in an ocean one day without any warning. I've thought many times, even as a kid, that i was lucky to be living in the middle of a giant continent where there are almost no natural disasters and thought how lucky we were.
ReplyDeleteI realize that the government has not made it a priority to educate people recently, granted, and there should be something done about it. I think they should just bring back the public service announcements I used to see on tv as a kid. I can still remember seeing announcements telling you what to do in the event of a serious disaster and to have a survival kit in the house. Oddly enough, those have stuck with me all these years, and I've barely given it a second thought until now.