COLONIAL ACRES NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
February Meeting: 7:00pm Thursday the 23rd at Colonial Baptist Church, Fellowship Hall
DROP, COVER AND HOLD ON
Memphis City School students have participated in disaster training leading up to the Great Central U.S. Shake Out Drill on February 7, 2012. The drill marked the 200th anniversary of the devastating New Madrid Fault earthquake of 1812. The K-12 students learned to DROP to the floor, find COVER under their desk or table and HOLD ON to the desk or table.
Now they have been trained to seek appropriate shelter if they are at school, what will they find at home or if disaster occurs other than school hours? What have you done to prepare your home and family in the event of a natural or manmade disaster? We have examples of recent devastating events ranging from tornados in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and just down the road in Hickory Hill to Hurricane Elvis. One recent storm knocked down trees all over Colonial Acres. And earthquakes, Japan is sort of far away but what about causing a crack in the Washington Monument as close as Washington, D.C. What about the train derailment just up the street on Poplar? It could have been a tank car with any number of chemicals instead of a box car with whatever in it.
We are told that the First Responders in a significant disaster will be your neighbors if they survive. We are told that you need to be prepared to provide food, water and shelter for at least 72 hours with no electricity. Etc., etc., etc. And the earthquake possibility and recovery are so critical that there is the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) “a partnership to mitigate disasters and save lives.”
The Colonial Acres Neighborhood Association wants to dedicate this year to preparing the Neighborhood to be survivors in the event of a disaster in or near our area. To start, the February 23rd program will be presented by CUSEC to give us the big picture especially as it relates to earthquakes. We will follow up with programs that will encourage you to know your neighbor, First Responder training and what to expect or be a participant in an Incident Command Center.
Be an enthusiastic participant as we move through the evolution to the most prepared Neighborhood in the Mid-South.
Lynn Strickland
President
Colonial Acres Neighborhood Association
