By Melissa Blosser
When disaster strikes, emergency response teams ramp up quickly to safeguard lives. Providing immediate shelter is often a first priority. In order to practice and ensure the safety of our residents, the Red Cross of Northern Nevada, in collaboration with emergency management from Carson City, Douglas, Lyon and Storey counties, will set up two simulated shelters next month.
The exercise will be on Wednesday, March 18 from noon to 4 p.m. at two locations: Douglas County Community and Senior Center,1329 Waterloo Ln, Gardnerville, and Fuji Park 601 Old Clear Creek Road, Carson City.
The purpose of the exercise is to test the community’s resilience and allow for local emergency coordinators to test working together to ensure safe adequate shelters and the safety of citizens in real emergency situations.
The simulation will require Douglas County and Carson City Emergency Management to request shelters be up and running for evacuees and their pets.
The disaster training has been in planning for months through the efforts of the American Red Cross, Douglas County Emergency Management, East Fork Fire, Carson City Emergency Management, Carson City Fire Department, Carson City Health and Human Services, and the Quad-County Public Health Preparedness program. Each shelter will be fully activated as it would be during a real emergency, bringing many agencies together to provide the services our communities would need during an emergency situation.
Coordination is key! The American Red Cross is required to test its capacity to shelter victims of natural disasters on an annual basis. Each exercise must demonstrate that resources are in place to house a minimum of two hundred people in two different locations. Such practice-runs are paramount to ensure success when a real disaster strikes.
“We are hosting this simulation to test the sheltering capacity of the Red Cross along with how the community would help support our efforts. We invited other local organizations to participate so that we would be familiar with services, points of contacts, and understand the full scope of our resources. This simulation will be a great tool for our local community,” said Jill Hemenway, the disaster program manager for the American Red Cross of Northern Nevada.
The Douglas County Community and Senior Center will still be open for regular business and all facilities will be open as usual during the exercise.
The community is welcome to observe and participate in this event at either of the locations. The media is also encouraged and invited to cover the event. For more information contact Jennifer Sparks at (702)-376-9411 or jennifer.sparks2@redcross.org.
Please visit: http://douglascountynv.hosted.civiclive.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=12493103&pageId=13606830
The American Red Cross also has a number of free mobile apps for iOS and Android designed to help individuals prepare for and get through disasters that may be found https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/mobile-apps.html
We would like to remind residents to be prepared to respond individually should an emergency occur in your community.
