Disasters Preparedness Resources

NewStories Initiative on Preparing for Disasters

 

May their vision help inspire other communities in Disaster Preparedness

 

Preparing for the Possible – the following information taken from their website 

“NewStories is focused on how we individually and collectively are preparing for disaster, recovering, often over years, and use disaster as a springboard for regenerating new possibilities rather than simply returning to what was before. This happens in connected community.

We are working on 4 aspects of Preparing for the Possible in 2019:

Ready Together. Working in Partnership with Transition US and the City of Renton Emergency Management Office, we are launching a new project which helps near neighbors get ready for future disasters, together. The project includes:

  • A Handbook to be used by clusters of 8-15 near-neighbors in communities across North America to guide a series of seven meetups to get ready together.
  • A virtual learning support system including website, organizing guides, online salons around different topics and an online learning community.
  • A rigorous evaluation component to continuously evolve.

By engaging clusters of neighbors in more than 500 communities we hope to create a tipping point in preparedness.”

 

“The old story is that disasters are cataclysmic and tragic events beyond our control and when they happen, we have to get back to the way things were as quickly as we can. That old story is incomplete. We need new ones. Here are a few:

  • Connected communities, where people feel like they belong and are valued and included, are essential in preparing for and responding to disasters.
  • Disasters illuminate underlying community problems and issues in ways which make them visible, undeniable and approachable if we choose to act.
  • Many people in disaster affected areas experience a big wake-up call, an invitation to think about what is really important in their lives.
  • The bigger the disaster, the greater the opportunity to define new visions and new priorities within our communities and to build our community’s will for new action.
 We need these stories. They provide insight, inspiration and information that can help us build the communities and lives we want, right now. The purpose this network for Preparing for the Possible is to help people and communities step into these new stories and to discover what else is possible in our lives in these times.”