ShakeOut

Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill – Who Will Be Joining My Family?

ShakeOutEveryone, everywhere, should know how to protect themselves, their family and their business in an earthquake. As a CERT member and vocal disaster preparedness advocate, I’m thrilled to be participating with my family in the world’s largest earthquake drill.

Earthquakes have certainly been a huge topic both in the news and in Hollywood. The April 2015 Nepal earthquake killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000. San Andreas, a 2015 disaster film, portrays how a seemingly ideal day turns disastrous when California’s notorious San Andreas fault triggers a devastating, magnitude 9 earthquake, the largest in recorded history. While the Nepal earthquake is an unfortunate reality, thankfully the movie San Andreas was mainly fiction. To help learn more about earthquake facts the several organizations have offered many resources, including for those who have family members with Autism or other needs. (I recommend that my readers go here first for information.)

I’m in Atlanta, Georgia. You may be thinking, “Atlanta? Earthquakes? I can see being prepared for a tornado, but come on. Georgia doesn’t have earthquakes.” It’s that kind of “it won’t happen to me” thinking that gets us all in trouble when it comes to emergency preparedness. Guess what – in the past year alone, Georgia has experienced seven earthquakes. In my research I also found a great deal of Georgia earthquakes that caused significant damage dating back to 1811.

The USGS provides much information about earthquakes on their website. Click

image courtesy of earthquake.usgs.gov

image courtesy of earthquake.usgs.gov

here to learn more.

Even if earthquakes are rare where you live, they may happen where you or your family travel. While earthquake hazard varies from region to region, most of the Southeast really is prone to earthquakes. You could be anywhere when an earthquake strikes: at home, at work, at school or even on vacation.

What you do now will determine your quality of life after our next big earthquake. Are you prepared to survive and recover quickly?

What is Great ShakeOut?

shakoutGreat ShakeOut Earthquake Drills are an annual opportunity for people in homes, schools, and organizations to practice what to do during earthquakes, and to improve preparedness.

By participating, you and your family can practice how to be safer during big earthquakes: “Drop, Cover and Hold On.” The ShakeOut has also been organized to encourage you, your community, your school, or your organization to review and update emergency preparedness plans and supplies, and to secure your space in order to prevent damage and injuries. Below I have listed the Seven Steps to Earthquake Preparedness. You may wish to copy these bright images and laminate them as part of your family preparedness plan to have on hand as an aid for communication. Laminating them will help them to last longer.

Also, remember that when a disaster hits one should be ready to either shelter in place or evacuate. For children and adults with Autism that means extra care in planning is required. It is a good idea to communicate with your local First Responders about the needs of your family and share with them some tips on how to help a child or adult with Autism during these stressful situations.

Read about Apps to help with disaster response when your family has a member with Autism

Why Register for ShakeOut?

Not only will you find many safety tips, like having a disaster kit that applies to tornadoes and hurricane safety as well, but families with individuals with special considerations or are non English speaking will find a plethora of resources.

  • Be counted in the largest-ever earthquake drill in the Southeast!
  • Be listed with other participants in your area (Optional)
  • Be an example that motivates others to participate & prepare
  • Be updated with ShakeOut news and preparedness tips
  • Have peace of mind that you, your family, your co-workers and millions of others will be better prepared to survive and recover quickly from our next big earthquake!

Don’t just register, get involved! Join the ShakeOut community and participate in the weekly Tweetchat on Wednesdays from 2-3 pm EST. This Wednesday, July 22nd, I will be tweeting live during the Tweetchat! Join me, @SpiritOfAutism, and be sure to use hashtags #ShakeOut and #DropCoverHoldOn. Don’t forget to upload pictures of you and your family registering for Great ShakeOut!

join us

Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety

PREPARE:

  1. Secure your space (a list of how to do that here)
  2. Plan to be Safe (and review and practice your plan with your family members)
  3. Organize your disaster supplies – don’t forget to add any special objects that help your child to transition or feel more comfortable. Especially if you are relocated to a shelter or another’s home.
  4. Minimize financial hardship. Remember that your basic home or renter insurance most likely will not cover earthquakes.

SURVIVE and RECOVER

  1. Here is where you Drop- Cover and Hold On! Remember to practice this during the ShakeOut drill and several other times during the year.
  2. Improve Safety. After an earthquake happens be sure to check on people nearby for any injuries. Evacuate if need be.

And after the Earthquake happens Step 7 is to Recover and Restore with daily life by repairing anything broken and assuming daily routine when possible.

Images for use and download to help with communication and to create social stories:

 

water heater cell
disaster kit documents
drop cover hold on recover
rebuild
ICE4Autism Home Screen

Weekly Autism Tips for Emergency Responders: ICE4Autism Interview

I’m so excited to have connected with Wanda Refaely, creator of ICE4Autism, the only Autism-Specific In Case of Emergency (ICE) App. This awesome app provides first responders and medical personnel with actionable information quickly and effectively.

For families,

it’s a fantastic way to be prepared for situations that we never think will happen but, in reality, could. Some features include:

  • How you communicate — includes a drop down menu of commonly used communication devices and languages, and a place to describe how you communicate and want to be communicated with

  • Your unique behaviors and triggers —  includes a drop down menu listing behaviors commonly associated with autism PLUS the option to enter your own details including telling first responders and medical staff how best to  respond to make YOU more comfortable

  • Important Treatment Information — describe any issues, concerns and sensitivities that could be vital to YOUR proper care and overall comfort level AND describe ways to reduce your anxiety

ICE4Autism can also send an emergency alert text message —  including your GPS location and a link to your location pinned on Google Maps — to your designated emergency contacts. Parents, spouses, caregivers and service providers can come to your side, advocate for you and help you through the ordeal.

For responders,

simply launch the ICE4Autism mobile app and you as a first responder, ER doctor, nurse or administrator have immediate access to the critical the information needed to treat the patient properly while helping to reduce what is sure to be a heightened level of anxiety.

Emergency situations are challenging for everyone. But add in sensory, communication and behavioral challenges, and an emergency can turn into a disaster for a person with Autism and the responders trying to help them.

Below is the video interview I did with Wanda, as well as the screen shots she mentioned in the broadcast. Please feel free to like and share the video, you’ll help more people be prepared for emergencies!

ICE4Autism My Autism

ICE4Autism Home Screen

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Help Me Illuminate the Future for Those with Autism

logo_waad-227x300As you know, I am extremely involved in the Autism community, both to support my son and in the Emergency Preparedness/Emergency Responder arena. I am blessed and honored to be training some of Georgia’s finest men and women in uniform – Law Enforcement, EMS, Fire Rescue and Disaster Responders – on how to recognize and safely interact with Autistic persons on the scene of a crime, fire, medical call or disaster. My goal is to have all of Georgia’s responders trained within the next 18 months. The Autism Society of Georgia is helping me do that by fully endorsing my training programs!

April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. 

Please join the Autism Society of Georgia and me by helping us illuminate the future and create awareness for Autism.

For as little as $5.00 you can help us light a luminary for 1 child or adult.

There are over 150,000 children and adults in Georgia identified with Autism and we are making a difference. And, because my training programs are critical to the safety of the Autism community, the Autism Society of Georgia is giving 20% back to Spirit of Autism when you donate through my unique link so that I can continue to provide this training.

If you feel inspired to, you can click here to go to mydonation page or head over to Autism Society of Georgia’s The Future is Bright website to learn more about the campaign. From there you can choose Spirit of Autism on the right hand side by clicking my logo.

Thank you for being a part of MY community. I know you haven’t heard from me regularly in a while… I apologize! I’m almost done with Advanced EMT school and can come up for air soon : ) Now back to my IV drip conversions and drug calculations!

xoxo

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Atlanta Makes Top 10 Tornado City List – Are You Prepared?

11 Alive recently reported that Atlanta is among the top ten cities across the nation where homes are most likely to be hit by a tornado, according to a new list from The Weather Channel.

Instead of just counting numbers of tornadoes as they did in preparation of releasing previous lists, this year The Weather Channel’s severe weather expert gathered data from the National Weather Service from between 1962 and 2011, and noted the areas within 75 miles of the highlighted cities, and included data on length and width of the storms’ damage paths.

Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia are noted to have been hit more often than areas that one would consider traditional tornado areas.

In recent years, Atlanta and Nashville both have had tornadoes hit their downtown areas, which flies in the face of the common thought that tornadoes tend to avoid urban areas.

The top 10 cities for tornadoes include:

10 – Nashville
9 – Wichita
8 – Atlanta
7 – Oklahoma City
6 – Tulsa
5 – Little Rock
4 – Tuscaloosa
3 – Birmingham
2 – Jackson
1 – Huntsville

Are You Prepared?

Get Notified. If you have a weather radio, that’s great! But here is a great service available to everyone that allows you to be notified by your local emergency response team in the event of emergency situations or critical community alerts. Examples include: evacuation notices, bio-terrorism alerts, boil water notices, and missing child reports.

Sign up for Code Red now – it’s FREE!

Make Your 72-Hour Kit. Make sure you have a 72-hour kit assembled for each family member ready to go. It could be the difference between life and death. Remember that it could take emergency personnel at least three days to reach you in the event of a disaster.

What do you put in your kit? Here is a great comprehensive list of what should go in each family member’s kit so you can survive up to three days. This page includes a link to a printable checklist which is extremely helpful.

If you have a child or family member with Autism you will need to be even more resourceful to maintain order in a time of great chaos. Here is a list of what to include in your Autistic child’s 72-hour kit.

Have a safety plan. After you create a safety plan, hold a family meeting to go over the plan with all members of the family. This will help your children get familiar with the plan in case of emergency. It is a great idea to go over the plan at least twice a year (once at the start of each “tornado season” in your area).

My children get very disgruntled with me when I use the fog machine to set off the smoke alarms at 3 am… but they know what to do now in the case of a fire!

Decide where your family should go in the event of a tornado. If your family has a basement or a partial basement that is underground, you should certainly go there. Pick a place that is away from windows and doors. When a tornado hits close to your home, one of the first things that may happen is that your windows will blow out. You don’t want to be near them when this happens, or the glass may cut you.

If you don’t have a basement (like us!) you can find other places that are safe to be in your home during inclement weather. Choose to get in a closet, under a stairwell, or in a central room. Bathrooms without windows are also great places, as the piping in the walls can act as a barrier between you and the weather outside.

You may want to plan an emergency word that should only be used in case of emergency. Make sure everyone in your family knows the word and what to do when it is spoken.

Practice, practice, practice! Emergency officials train constantly in order to be effective on their job; if you want an effective emergency plan, you and your family should practice what to do.

How about you? Tell me about your family’s safety plan by commenting below or posting it on the SOA Facebook page!