Emergency Preparedness in Rideau Rockcliffe

What does emergency preparedness look like in Rideau Rockcliffe?

1. Back up water supplies

2. Back up food supplies

3. Emergency power backup

4. Emergency cash... atm's out of order

5. Working bicycle

6. Physical conditioning

7. Access to power tools like chainsaws, sump pumps , and the knowledge how to use them

8. Communications backup.. more than one cell account

9. Flashlights and batteries, solar backups

10. Sufficient medications and first aide supplies

11. Know your neighbors, help out

12. Your own emergency plan including a ready bag, contact numbers, cash, a buddy

There is much to consider...when there is no emergency.

The need to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable...

The tragedy in LAHAINA, Hawaii is instructive concerning the need for wards of municipalities to be prepared. Here's a list of the crazy things that happened during the Lahaina wildfire: 

1. Police turned cars back towards the wildfire fearing downed power lines;

2. They fought over water supply to fire trucks;

3. They did not sound alarms;

4. Because power lines were not buried, they collapsed in the fire;

5. Combustibles abounded all around;

6. Lack of organization and planning delayed the evacuation;

What about Rideau- Rockcliffe?

The question now arises--what hazards and proclivities pose the greatest risk to our ward?

Here is a short list: 

1. Nuclear detonation

• Owing to adversarial Putin and Canada's NATO alliance...things could escalate

2. Contamination of water supply--the Ottawa River

• The Ottawa River is soon to be down-stream from a nuclear waste dump in Deep River;

3. A great conflagration in Gatineau park

• Climate change, drought and pine beetles have wreaked havoc all around us. The national capital is not immune to wildfires.

4. Multiple tornados striking the ward

• The band of tornados seems to be moving north. We have been lucky but a highway seven event is possible.

5. Natural Disaster

• Massive heat wave...or ice storm, climate change is palpable now...but could get worse...the changes may not be linear or manageable.

6. Aliens land 

• The Americans admit that UAP are not proven to be extra terrestrial..."but we do not know what they are!"

7. Racial, gang or worker strife... including trucker convoy styled protest or general strike

• The trucker convoy was proven effective as a protest. It could happen again. In fact protests could become more common.

8. Hazardous materials incident

• 417 Traffic on the Queensway often grinds to a halt backing up traffic in the nation's capital. A hazardous waste incident during a traffic tie up could have disastrous consequences.

One of the problems in Lahaina was that they did not practice and they did not imagine the worst case. Can we learn from Lahaina and not just think the unthinkable but be proactive as a community to mitigate those risks?

Again, these are a few of the possibilities. There are others of course, including air crashes, plagues, etc.

Rideau Rockcliffe does have an emergency planning process but have stopped short of trying to predict the future... It is focused on assets and process:

https://ottawa.ca/en/health-and-public-safety/emergency-preparedness#section-0116fca7-414f-4d72-954d-7097cd1f1be3