Being Community Ready

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Reality Check:

The truth of it is... our communities, such as neighborhoods, cul-de-sacs, apartment complexes, and even the street we drive down every day: are not as close or community minded, as they used to be.

In the event of a natural or man-made disaster: FEMA... or your local first responders will not be there to rescue you. If they ever show up, it will be days or weeks. When Surveyed, 60% of first responders will be at home helping their families. 40% of health-care workers will be at home with their families. The National Guard and/or military will be at their designated staging areas... which you will have to find. 80% of those surveyed had no idea what their community emergency plan was; or even if there was an emergency plan.

It seems that, most people just want to mind their own business; And they want their neighbors to mind their own business; they are completely isolated, and living only a few yards away from each other.

Neighborhoods and neighborhood leaders only seem to organize when it looks like something out there is creeping into their backyard. They will get passionate about a streetlight or crosswalk, and not even know that the guy who lived just 30 feet from their bedroom window passed away; until they read it in the newspaper.

Example:

He never realized how much he had isolated himself from his neighbors, 30 to 60 feet away, until he had been laying there on his bathroom floor for three days with a broken hip unable to move.  Two weeks later, the stench of his rotting corpse alerted the mailman that something was wrong.

When the police showed up, they found the old man on the bathroom floor, and his wife, who was totally dependent on him for care, in the doorway of her bedroom... it looked like she was trying to get to her husband with a telephone.  Who knows how long they were their calling out to each other.

Imagine... the horror of being the last to go.. and the silence. She had a cell phone in her hand, the one they kept on the night stand, but with her crippling rheumatoid arthritis, an near blindness she couldn't get the phone to turn on; though it was obvious she had been hitting buttons randomly. She could only hope to get the phone to her husband,  on the bathroom floor; but collapsed trying to get to him.

None of the neighbors really new them. He was just the cranky old guy on the corner; to them. But it was only then, that they realized that none of them knew each-others names. 

Communities like this, only organize when they face a situation that mutually effects them all... and then The crawl back into their little politically correct lives and pretend that the world is perfect and bad things only happen thousands of miles away. 

In the event of a crisis, communities such as multifamily communities, your street, cul-de-sac or apartment building  must work together. You could be an organizer, you could be the person that makes a difference and saved hundreds of lives. You can start right now by helping your community prepare for an emergency.   Maybe you do not have this kind of organizational skills, not everybody does, but you know someone who does. 

Encourage them, support them, in things you can do.

The key word here is "Do". Everyone can "Do" something...

Renters/Multifamily Housing:

You must get it into your head, that calling your landlord, in some cases, the housing authority...  will not help you in case of a community wide crisis; they are under no obligation to assist you in anyway; they will most likely be at home taking care of their own families; just like we seen during hurricane Katrina.

So Please... Organize and know your options.

Communicate and learn to work together as a community; a family.