Communities, families need to be prepared

Are you ready for some football? Probably. Are you ready for a disaster? Probably not.

Prepare Petaluma will host what could literally be a life-saving workshop Thursday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Petaluma Community Center, 320 N. McDowell Blvd. in Lucchesi Park. The focus of the workshop will be on helping individuals and families prepare for a natural disaster or some other emergency. A follow-up event on Saturday, ?Take the Forum Home,? will help residents put their emergency plans into action.

Prepare Petaluma is a coalition of volunteers and organizations that work with the city?s Emergency Opera-tions Center to prepare the community for an emergency, either natural or man created.

The two events will point individuals and families toward community services available in the event of an emergency and help them prepare to survive on their own until help becomes available.

The two events will provide invaluable information for all residents regardless of age or neighborhood. Everyone needs to be prepared for an emergency, whether it be a New Year?s Eve flood, a Katrina or a terrorist attack.

But, while the suggestions, contact information and survival techniques are crucial, the most important function of the events is to emphasize to the public the need to be prepared.

People need to understand that emergencies not only can happen, they will happen. No one knows when or how severe it will be, but there will be a major earthquake in the Bay Area. There will be a chemical spill. There will be a fire. These are all part of living in one of the most desirable places on earth.

We all need to be prepared.

The other vital message to be delivered at the two preparedness events is that you are not alone. While each individual and family needs to be prepared to provide for its own well being, individuals and families need to be ready to work together as a community for the well being of all.

Working together, communities can utilize individual member?s skills, knowledge and training. Lives can be saved if community members are prepared to cooperate to help one another.

In today?s world, being prepared as a community, as well as a family, is not just desirable ? it is essential.

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