Earthquake

This was the real thing.  Not the movie on tv.  It appears physical damage was minor.  Damage to ones mental well being???   How prepared do you feel government is to responding to disasters, whether man made or natural?  

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Local, National, State. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Earthquake”

  1. amaher Says:
    April 20th, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    Generally speaking I think the government is reasonably well prepared to do the things the government should be expected to do: address health and safety issues that could affect the community, ensure that law and order is maintained, keep the government and civil institutions functioning (we can have a discussion on another day as to whether we are better off when the government stops working for a while!), and coordinating the provision of emergency services and supplies during the immediate aftermath and the recovery period.

    The more important question is, “Are you prepared to take care of yourself, your family (including pets/livestock), and maybe even your neighbors for a while if a disaster strikes?” It’s a simple fact that for the first 72 hours, you’d better be able to fend for yourself. There is no way “the government” is going to be able to step in and provide every household with the basics immediately after a disaster strikes, nor should we expect them to do so.

    If you’re not ready or you’re not sure, there are lots of resources out there to help you figure out what to do. There are Emergency Management offices at many levels, from the cities all the way to the federal government, and most if not all of them have information available about how to prepare your home and family. Madison County’s Emergency Management office has a website with links to preparedness info: http://www.co.madison.il.us/EMA/EMA.shtml Non-governmental organizations that do disaster work also have info, from the Red Cross and Salvation Army for people, to Noah’s Wish, http://www.noahswish.org, for info on keeping pets safe.

    This was a good wakeup call for all of us, and it’s a great time to think about what you would do if something major hit our area.

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