Welcome families!
The Emergency Preparedness Squad engages your kids as emergency preparedness superheroes to help your family be ready when disaster strikes!
Below you will find useful tips and links to help your family through the program.
Your child will receive a mission after each module that will help your family take the next step in preparing for an emergency. We recognize family life is very busy, so taking the first step is the most important!
Get your family emergency-ready!
Know The Risks
The first step in emergency preparedness is to learn about potential risks in your region. Here are the top ten potential emergency situations in BC:
- Earthquakes
- Avalanches
- Wildfires
- Disease Outbreak
- Landslides
- Tsunamis
- Power Outages
- Hazardous Material Spills
- Severe Weather
- Floods
To learn more about these potential risks, you can visit the following resources:
- BC Government’s PreparedBC website
- Public Safety Canada’s GetPrepared website
- United States Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov website
Mission: Talk to your family about the potential emergency risks in your region.
Top tip! If thinking through these risks makes a family member anxious, you can practice a Superhero Calming Breath – the video towards the bottom of the page will show you how!
Make a Plan
Planning is the next step to help your family be prepared for an emergency.
Mission: As a family, fill out the emergency plan template in your child’s Mission Files workbook.
Make sure you make multiple copies and keep them in safe places (e.g. near the front door, in your child’s backpack).
Get a Kit
Now that you have an emergency plan for your family, the next step is to begin to prepare an emergency kit to ensure your safety for the first 72hrs of an emergency. Important items to put in your kit include:
- Food & Water (nonperishable, 3 days worth)
- Flashlight
- Medication + glasses
- Extra clothes
- Picture / letter from parents or guardians
- Copy of plan, incl contact info and safe meeting place
For more information about what to include in your kit, visit the following resources:
- BC Government’s PreparedBC website
- Public Safety Canada’s GetPrepared website
- United States Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov website
Mission: Start putting together an emergency preparedness kit for your family. You can make more than one kit too e.g. make one for at home, make a kit for your child to take to school, make one for your work place etc!
We’re In It Together
Emergency preparedness is as much about community resilience as it is being prepared at home. How will you work with your neighbourhood and community in the event of an emergency?
Visit your city’s website for more information about local initiatives:
- City of Burnaby
- City of Coquitlam
- City of Port Coquitlam
- City of Vancouver
- North Shore Emergency Management
- City of Victoria
Mission: Keep building your emergency preparedness kit and talk to your neighbours about how you can all be better prepared!
For help with talking to your neighbours about emergency preparedness, check out PreparedBC’s In It Together: Neighbourhood Preparedness Guide.
Practice the Superhero Calming Breath!
If your child or any other family member has anxiety, they can use the Superhero Calming Breath to help them relax.
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