As households, communities and businesses we need to be more resilient to emergency situations and have plans, household emergency plans, business continuity plans and/or emergency plans, to help us prepare and respond to emergencies.
Household Resilience
It is a good idea to have these set aside, just in case:
- canned food, crackers, biscuits, read to eat meals and bottled water, etc.
- cooking equipment, basic cutlery and a tin opener
- medication and prescriptions
- warm clothing or blankets
- portable radio and batteries or a wind-up radio
- torch with batteries or candles with matches
- washing and personal hygiene products
- special items for babies, children, elderly and disabled persons
- store important documentation, such as passports and driving licenses, in a safe, dry place
All emergencies are different in terms of dangers to the public and the response required. However, in most cases (where you haven’t been evacuated), you should go inside, stay inside and tune into local radio news for updates.
Community Resilience
Wirral InfoBank is a directory of local community groups, services, and activities that can support your health and wellbeing, especially during and after an emergency.
Business Continuity
Business continuity is about staying in business after disaster strikes. It means planning how key services will be maintained in the event of an emergency.
Past experience from major incidents in the UK shows that organisations that have business continuity arrangements in place are more likely to stay in business and recover more quickly than those that do not.
Advice on how to prepare your business for an emergency can be found in the government's Business Continuity Management Toolkit
The Merseyside Prepared website gives information on how to protect your business in an emergency.