Preparing your community

Community Resilience is about communities using local resources and knowledge to help themselves during an emergency in a way that compliments the response of the local emergency services.

A community working together during an emergency makes sense.

Think about what you could do with others to help your community be better prepared for risks like flooding and severe weather.
There are lots of easy ways you can do this, either by supporting some of the work already happening in your area, or by looking to establish something new.

This isn’t about doing the job of the emergency services. It’s about supporting your community and those in it by making sensible preparations and using the skills and knowledge that the community has.

What you can do

You know your community best. You may be a member of a variety of communities; geographical (a street, neighbourhood, village); cultural; religious or social (sports club etc). Each community is full of existing networks and relationships; that are well placed to identify:

• What the potential risks are for that specific community
• Who has key skills, knowledge, transport or equipment that could help
• Any buildings that could be available and who has the keys (eg village hall, church hall)
• Communication links to ensure everyone’s contacted in an emergency
• Who could be vulnerable in a emergency
• If you live in a flood risk area you may wish to sign up to the free Floodline Warning Direct service
• What the highest priority needs are to respond to, and recover from the emergency

Why not develop a Community Emergency Plan?