EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
The Methow Valley is prone to a host of natural disasters including forest fires, floods, extreme weather events, and power outages; some lasting hours or even days. It is important that households and neighborhoods prepare for the YOYO reality (“You’re on Your Own) - at least in the short-term - as we examine our capacity to care for our families and meet basic needs in a crisis. To do so, it is important that individual households and neighborhoods get disaster-prepared.
CPC has been influenced by the excellent work on neighborhood community preparedness taking place in the Port Townsend area with Jefferson County Emergency Management their local L2020 group. According to L2020’s web site:
Disasters are major events that can strike anywhere and at any time, often with no warning, such as earthquakes. In a disaster, traditional 9-1-1 and First Responder capabilities such as fire, police, medics, and utility personnel will be overwhelmed and unable to immediately assist individuals and families. This fact often does not occur to many, so people live with a false sense of security as a result.
A strong YOYO (You're On Your Own) message has been delivered at all Neighborhood Organizer meetings: for the first 72 hours or more, we will very likely be largely on our own for basic survival concerns. The lessons of Hurricane Katrina are still with us.
Preparing your neighborhood is vital! The YOYO acronym, You're On Your Own, means that neighbors will likely be the first ones to offer you assistance. Neighbors who are prepared are more effective in their response to a disaster and have a much increased capacity to be self-sufficient for the first 72 hours after a disaster
In response, CPC, in partnership with our local First Responders, organized a Neighborhood Preparedness Fair & BBQ, to help educate Methow citizens on how to protect themselves and meet basic needs in the event of a disaster. An additional goal was to identify “Neighborhood Leaders” that could be trained to organize their own neighborhoods using Emergency Management’s “Map Your Neighborhood” flip chart and guide. Partnering organizations for this effort were: 
Okanogan Emergency Management, Fire District #6, Aero Methow Rescue Service, the Department of Natural Resources, the Methow Valley Ranger District, the American Red Cross, and the LDS Church.
The Fair was a great success, outcome of which can be found on our Fair Outcome page. We have now trained over 30 local citizens to become Neighborhood Leaders so they can organize their neighborhoods to meet basic needs in a disaster. For information on becoming a Neighborhood Leader, please contact Glenda Beauregard from Okanogan Emergency Management at 509.422.7206 or via email at gbeauregard@co.okanogan.wa.us.
For Information on organizing your household, please click on our Personal Readiness Page.
For Information on organizing your neighborhood, please click on our Prepare Your Neighborhood page.
