A day in the life

I am not sure why, but I always struggle when it is my turn to write a blog. It is not like there is a lack of things to write about. Within the last day, I have been encountered all four stages of an emergency: mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery. . ..and there really are some good stories to share.

Mitigation

I just learned today, our mitigation department is developing a website that will enable residents to plug in their address and search a database to identify all hazards in the area. What a great idea to take the comprehensive State mitigation plan and enable the public quick and easy access to that information. But not just what the hazards are, how to mitigate against the hazards or how to be prepared to respond if they happen.

Preparedness

The Marciopa County Public Health Department has the daunting task of ensuring they can distribute medication to the residents should a large scale incident occur. The cool thing is they are planning to do this by people driving through distribution points. I love anything I can drive through. Volunteers are needed for April, check out the video.

Response

Ok, this really happened in January, but we were discussing it in a meeting earlier today. . . .during the January floods, an interstate mutual aid compact allowed us to reach out to our neighbors in Nevada to share 3 helicopters with us. These helicopters helped us drop resources to the snowbound residents in northern Arizona.

Recovery

The winter storms in January triggered some severe flooding in several parts of the State. We have requested a major disaster declaration from the President to provide funding to assist in relief efforts. While we wait to hear the outcome of our request, long term recovery organizations have formed to help leverage the scarce resources that are out there to help individuals that were impacted. I am so impressed with the Black Canyon City community. They have rallied together to raise funds, food, clothing, bedding, trailers, etc. for their neighbors. Talk about taking care of their own.