Emergency Preparation

1. Emergency Preparation

2. “…if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear” D&C 38:30 President Gordon B. Hinckley has suggested "that the time has come to get our houses in order. . . . There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed" --Conference Report, Oct. 1998 “When we speak of [personal and] family preparedness, we should speak of foreseen, anticipated, almost expected needs which can be met through wise preparation. Even true emergencies can be modi-fied by good planning.” --Bishop H. Burke Peterson, April 1975

3. Overwhelmed?

4. “MASTER” the task at hand • M- Make the commitment • A- Apply all you know • S- Strategize • T- Training, training, training • E- Endure in your efforts • R- Rehearse

5. “Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earth quake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.” --Ezra Taft Benson, October 1980 Conference

6. The primary responsibility to prepare for and respond to emergencies rests with individual members and families. To help, Church leaders have counseled families to: -  Prepare spiritually through fasting, family and personal prayer, family home evening, and honoring their covenants. - Prepare financially by staying out of debt, saving for the future and obtaining insurance if possible. - Don’t neglect the continuing need for education. - Periodically evaluate your employment status.

7. - Maintain physical health by practicing wise eating habits, observing the Word of Wisdom, and exercising regularly. - Acquire a year's supply: Food: Store basic foods to sustain your family. Then choose other foodstuffs. Clothing: Physical protection followed by work Finances: To assure housing and security. Cash

8. What Can We Expect? • Thunderstorms, tornados, flooding, snow & ice storms and fire • Failure of cell and land line switched networks - 50 – 85 % of membership unreachable by phone either land line or cell - Tip – Older technology can be better POTS powers itself • Terrorist acts • Erroneous information

9. What Can We Do? • Organize and prepare as individuals, families, a Ward and as members of the community. • Get 72 Hour Kits put together • Develop a Household Emergency Plan • Educate ourselves • “Am I my brother’s keeper?” - CERTainly • Maintain a chain of information and restore communications • Follow instructions of authorities • Never give up

10. One Organization Is Already In Place Branch President or Bishop Priesthood Leadership Relief Society Presidency Visiting Teachers Home Teachers Families • Your most important and treasured relationships • should be within your family and the Church. • These are your Brothers and Sisters • Look at your HT & VT routes. • How (and how well) do you communicate? • Correlate Vertically & Laterally • Are there members with special needs?

11. The Present Organization

12. Evolution of a Plan • 2005 - Develop a communications restoration plan proposal for the Ward. • 2005 – 2006 Development of the full plan. - License training of 21 operators. - Testing of options - Implementation of CAPTN (now called MEGAN) • We went from 19 operators in the Stake to about 65 now • Phase 2.0 to be followed by continuing refinements, drills and iterations

13. Some Terminology AC-1, etc – Area Coordinator - This individual initiates, receives and monitors communications among Ward families (Area Members) that are in the same general neighborhood, or close geographic area. WC – Ward Coordinator - This individual receives reports from the Area Coordinators and passes that information along to Priesthood Leaders. This person may pass disaster information along to external interfaces. In actuality, the plan may call for more than one Ward Coordinator.

14. Ward Reporting Hierarchy

15. The Area Concept

16. The Ward Concept

18. Radio Examples

20. Communications Restoration • Amateur radio service is the backbone - Power, reliability, portability & cost effective - HF (long range) capabilities • General Mobile Radio Service - Another viable option for integration • Multi Use Radio Service - Power limitations are imposed

21. Disaster Flow Chart

22. Where Do We Start? • As is appropriate with your family, perform a Family & Personal Assessment • Compile full contact info on members. • Compile a Member’s Skills / Equipment Survey. • Talk with and involve your neighbors and friends. • Avail yourself of opportunities for training going forward. - Amateur Radio Licensing - Community Emergency Response Team - First Aid & CPR Training

23. “We cannot provide against every contingency. But we can provide against many contingencies. Let the present situation remind us that this we should do. As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect.” --Gordon B. Hinckley, October 2001 Conference

24. Where to Get More Information • www.providentliving.org • County EOC web sites • FEMA/GEMA web sites www.fema.gov www.gema.state.ga.us • American Radio Relay League www.arrl.org • Varied weather outlets www.wunderground.com www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc radar.weather.gov/ www.weather.com/maps/maptype/dopplerradarusnational/usdopplerradar_large_animated.html

25. Contact Information: Ward Emergency Preparation Specialist Dave Besson – KI4PHX Phone: 770 345 1463 Email: dbesson@att.net

26. Contact Information: Stake EMCOMM Director Sid Bishop – KB4QKZ Phone: 770 926 8375 Email: sbishopbishop@yahoo.com Stake EMCOMM Director - Assistant Jim Alderdice – N1ABM Phone: 678 529 6980 Cell: 678 851 0505 Email: N1ABM@arrl.net