Source Feed: City of Ottawa News Releases
Author: City of Ottawa - Media Relations / Ville d'Ottawa - Relations avec les médias
Publication Date: May 6, 2024 - 09:21
Be prepared, know your risks if there’s an emergency
May 6, 2024
Emergency Preparedness Week runs from May 5 to 11 and is a good time to reflect on lessons learned and better prepare for the next emergency.
Feature story
Over the past several years, Ottawa residents, businesses and visitors have experienced first-hand several different types of weather emergencies. For example, tornadoes and a derecho have damaged homes, uprooted trees, and downed power lines; flooding in 2017, 2019 and 2023 caused damage to water-side communities; and, a freezing rainstorm caused branches and power lines to freeze, impacting hydro infrastructure and leaving many residents in the dark.
Emergency Preparedness Week runs from May 5 to 11 and is a good time to reflect on lessons learned and better prepare for the next emergency.
In the event of an emergency, everyone should aim to be able to take care of themselves and their families for up to 3 days (or 72 hours), at least. Read on for some guidelines that can help you get started.
Emergency kit – supplies for 72 hours
One of the easiest tools you can prepare in advance is an emergency preparedness kit. Some items that are useful for your kit can include:
- Two litres of drinking water per person per day
- Battery-operated or crank radio
- Power banks for wireless charging
- Flashlights and extra batteries
- Medication
- Non-perishable, ready-to-eat canned foods and a manual can opener (note: be sure to rotate the food in your emergency kit to keep it fresh)
- Pet food for our family members from the animal world
- Blankets or sleeping bags
- Copies of important documents, such as insurance cards, birth certificates, and passports in a waterproof and portable container
- Clothing and footwear (one change per person; more for children)
- Toilet paper and other personal hygiene supplies
- First aid kit
- A paper or digital note with a list of contact names and information of family members, daycares, schools and other important contacts
- Trusted people in place as an emergency backup to pick up your children from school or daycare, check in with vulnerable family members and neighbors and take care of your pets
- Emergency money or a Presto card on-hand for transportation home
- A small quantity of your prescriptions on-hand, should you be unable to get home to take them, or a list of prescriptions so that they can be refilled at a pharmacy
- 9-1-1 - For life-threatening emergencies
- 2-1-1 - For information on provincial government and local community-based health and social services including food
- 3-1-1 - For City of Ottawa services such as garbage collection, by-laws, forestry services and childcare services
- 8-1-1 – For non-emergency health advice and help navigating health services in Ontario
- 613-738-0188 - For inquiries to Hydro Ottawa about power outages
- 1-800-434-1235 - For inquiries to Hydro One about power outages
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