To improve your safety:

• Plan to Survive
• Get involved in Community Safety

PLAN TO SURVIVE

To enhance your survival you should have a simple plan that was written with your family. Start now! Waiting for the event is too late. There are many preventative actions that can be considered, not to mention the confusion and panic that may accompany a disaster.

Your plan should be tested and consider:

• Hazards in your area
• Things to do to help prevent loss
• Staying safe for each known hazard
• Evacuation/safety point for the home, where to meet
• Evacuation centre for your community
• Home Emergency Kit eg battery radio, clothes, torch etc
• Saving your stock or pets
• Keeping informed, radio, which station to use
• Important items to rescue eg photos, heirlooms, important papers, etc
• Important persons to call, family contacts, neighbours, school & work
• Things to do after the event

Importantly, after planning, put the plan in a prominent place.

Help with Planning

Free help is available for disaster prevention and planning. You can find it on the Internet (see the "learn more" box), through local councils and from public and private organisations such as Emergency Services etc.

Emergency Management Australia (EMA) produces many useful guides and plan examples.

GET INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SAFETY

Volunteer

There are many organisations that are involved in aspects of disaster safety. You may like to become involved as a volunteer with the:

• Country Fire Service providing response services.
• State Emergency Service providing response services.
• Red Cross Organisation, providing post disaster services such as displaced person support, tracing and reunification.
• Salvation Army providing catering and relief support.
• Wireless Institute Citizens Emergency Network providing emergency disaster communications.
• St John Ambulance, providing emergency medical support.

Community Action

There are community-based approaches to reducing the impact from disaster. These approaches include: local information networks; detailed local planning; prevention and self-help.

If you wish to start or join a group in your area, contact your Council as a first step. Many councils already have local community committees and action groups planning for disaster events that need volunteer members.

Community Emergency Risk Management

The Community Emergency Risk Management program helps communities identify, assess and analyse important emergency risks and set out the treatment strategies and priorities that work at the local level.