Tweet
Four steps to prepare your household
Step 4: Know your neighbours
Getting to know your neighbours is an important part of preparing your household. People who know each other in their community are more likely to turn to each other for help, and in the long term cope better with crises and emergencies. The best part is that taking time to get to know your neighbours has a range of other benefits too.
Strong communities
Strong communities are those that people feel part of and feel valued and safe in. They are communities where people can seek help or contribute their time to make their neighbourhood a better place to live.
There is a lot of evidence suggesting that when people are better connected to their neighbourhood there are a range of benefits: they feel safer, there are lower levels of crime, generally people feel and are healthier and live a lot longer – all great reasons to get to know your neighbours.
Neighbourhoods in emergencies
Household emergency preparedness works best when a person feels part of their community. Often in emergencies, the demand on emergency and community services is overwhelming, meaning that these resources are prioritised to those most in need. If you can rely on the people in your neighbourhood, then this takes some of the pressure off emergency and community services.
Neighbours can help each other out in many ways:
• providing information about what is happening
• helping secure a property prior to a cyclone or windstorm
• moving furniture and valuables out of the way of floods
• clearing a property prior to bushfire season
• providing a place to shelter while an emergency is happening
• helping to clean up after an emergency
• simply sitting down and having a cup of tea and having a chat about what has happened.
Remember, neighbours aren’t just the people on either side of you, they could be elsewhere in your street.
People who might need more help
Some people in the community may need more help than others in an emergency – help that can often be provided by neighbours.
Think about people in your neighbourhood who might need your help:
• older adults living at home by themselves
• people with physical or intellectual disabilities
• people with mental illness
• single parents with young children
• large families
• people newly arrived to the area or even the country, including people who might be refugees or newly arrived immigrants.
If you have people who might need more help in your area, talk to them about emergency planning.
With their agreement, write their names, addresses and contact numbers in your Household emergency plan.
If they are happy to talk to you – and remember that some people value their privacy – find out if they have family members or organisations who help them continue to live in their home. You might want to ask them if they would like assistance preparing their own Household emergency plan.
Building a stronger community
Getting to know your neighbours is not as daunting as you might think.
Start small: knock on the doors of your neighbours, introduce yourself and leave your contact details with them.
Once you’ve met some of your neighbours there are many things you can do together to build your community:
• organise a street party
• hold a communal garage sale
• talk to your local council about community building initiatives that they may support
• start up a virtual community through one of the social networking websites like My Connected
Community (www.mc2.vicnet.net.au), My Space (www.myspace.com) or Facebook
(www.facebook.com) – these sites can be used to share information, promote events, or solve problems
• sort out a local issue – working together for a common goal can be a great way to build community.
Everyone always waits for someone else to do this, so it’s up to you!
Checklist
*have you exchanged numbers with your neighbours and written them in your Household emergency plan?
*have you found out who might need extra help in an emergency, and if *they have someone to help
them prepare for an emergency?
*have you started some community building activities?
The four steps to prepare your household are:
• be informed
• make a plan
• get an Emergency kit
• know your neighbours
For more information on any of the steps, download fact sheets from www.redcross.org.au
The Red Cross Emergency REDiPlan project provides people with general information to help them prepare for an emergency.
This information sheet is designed to assist people prepare for emergencies but necessarily contains only information of a general nature that may not be appropriate in all situations.
Before taking any action you should independently consider whether that action is appropriate in the light of your own circumstances.
http://www.redcross.org.au/media/Fac...ghbours(1).pdf Please note: This link does not work anymore. I can not find a replacement link. s.
Step 4: Know your neighbours
Getting to know your neighbours is an important part of preparing your household. People who know each other in their community are more likely to turn to each other for help, and in the long term cope better with crises and emergencies. The best part is that taking time to get to know your neighbours has a range of other benefits too.
Strong communities
Strong communities are those that people feel part of and feel valued and safe in. They are communities where people can seek help or contribute their time to make their neighbourhood a better place to live.
There is a lot of evidence suggesting that when people are better connected to their neighbourhood there are a range of benefits: they feel safer, there are lower levels of crime, generally people feel and are healthier and live a lot longer – all great reasons to get to know your neighbours.
Neighbourhoods in emergencies
Household emergency preparedness works best when a person feels part of their community. Often in emergencies, the demand on emergency and community services is overwhelming, meaning that these resources are prioritised to those most in need. If you can rely on the people in your neighbourhood, then this takes some of the pressure off emergency and community services.
Neighbours can help each other out in many ways:
• providing information about what is happening
• helping secure a property prior to a cyclone or windstorm
• moving furniture and valuables out of the way of floods
• clearing a property prior to bushfire season
• providing a place to shelter while an emergency is happening
• helping to clean up after an emergency
• simply sitting down and having a cup of tea and having a chat about what has happened.
Remember, neighbours aren’t just the people on either side of you, they could be elsewhere in your street.
People who might need more help
Some people in the community may need more help than others in an emergency – help that can often be provided by neighbours.
Think about people in your neighbourhood who might need your help:
• older adults living at home by themselves
• people with physical or intellectual disabilities
• people with mental illness
• single parents with young children
• large families
• people newly arrived to the area or even the country, including people who might be refugees or newly arrived immigrants.
If you have people who might need more help in your area, talk to them about emergency planning.
With their agreement, write their names, addresses and contact numbers in your Household emergency plan.
If they are happy to talk to you – and remember that some people value their privacy – find out if they have family members or organisations who help them continue to live in their home. You might want to ask them if they would like assistance preparing their own Household emergency plan.
Building a stronger community
Getting to know your neighbours is not as daunting as you might think.
Start small: knock on the doors of your neighbours, introduce yourself and leave your contact details with them.
Once you’ve met some of your neighbours there are many things you can do together to build your community:
• organise a street party
• hold a communal garage sale
• talk to your local council about community building initiatives that they may support
• start up a virtual community through one of the social networking websites like My Connected
Community (www.mc2.vicnet.net.au), My Space (www.myspace.com) or Facebook
(www.facebook.com) – these sites can be used to share information, promote events, or solve problems
• sort out a local issue – working together for a common goal can be a great way to build community.
Everyone always waits for someone else to do this, so it’s up to you!
Checklist
*have you exchanged numbers with your neighbours and written them in your Household emergency plan?
*have you found out who might need extra help in an emergency, and if *they have someone to help
them prepare for an emergency?
*have you started some community building activities?
The four steps to prepare your household are:
• be informed
• make a plan
• get an Emergency kit
• know your neighbours
For more information on any of the steps, download fact sheets from www.redcross.org.au
The Red Cross Emergency REDiPlan project provides people with general information to help them prepare for an emergency.
This information sheet is designed to assist people prepare for emergencies but necessarily contains only information of a general nature that may not be appropriate in all situations.
Before taking any action you should independently consider whether that action is appropriate in the light of your own circumstances.
http://www.redcross.org.au/media/Fac...ghbours(1).pdf Please note: This link does not work anymore. I can not find a replacement link. s.
Comment