County Emergency Operations Plan Approved by County Commissioners

Earlier today the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted unanimously to adopt the recently revised Johnson County Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP).  The new CEOP, now in effect, establishes the framework and guiding principles from which all response partners will prepare for and provide a unified response to disasters in Johnson County.  Specifically, the plan defines the policies, systems, coordination, and roles and responsibilities required to meet the needs generated by disasters in Johnson County. 

The CEOP can be found at www.jocoem.org/planning/ceop.shtml.  

The plan is the product of the combined effort of hundreds of stakeholders that participated in the planning process.  To ensure the plan was as accurate and comprehensive as possible, the update involved the development of 15 Emergency Support Function (ESF) workgroups, each addressing a specific annex of the plan.  The membership of these workgroups totaled over 250 representatives from various disciplines and professions representing the private, non-profit, and public sectors including the city, county, regional, state, and federal levels.  

While today’s adoption of the CEOP signifies the end of a extensive community-wide planning effort, our planning and preparedness efforts continue. Over the next few months our office will be meeting with the newly established ESF Workgroups to identify the next steps in developing our county-wide ESF specific capabilities.  Additionally, our office will be developing tools and other support materials to assist  ESF teams, cities, response organizations, and other community partners in their emergency planning efforts.          

This type of planning goes a long way toward continuing to help ensure Johnson County is a community prepared!

Emergency Preparedness is Green!

Is it possible that emergency preparedness can be “green”?  In honor of Earth Day, Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security is sharing a few ways for local residents to consider being environmentally-friendly when considering how to be prepared for emergencies and hazards that may impact their community. As a refresher, individuals and families are encouraged to engage in the three steps of emergency preparedness: have a kit, make a plan, and stay informed.  

The following tips are based on these guidelines:

Have a Kit:

Individuals and families are always encouraged to have emergency supplies such as food, water, medicine, and first aid available for use during an emergency or disaster.  This step provides many opportunities to be “green”.  For instance, milk jugs can be washed out and reused to store emergency water supplies.  Although some studies have suggested the possibility that reusing plastic bottles carries some health risk, this has not been validated and therefore represents an excellent way to reuse materials as part of emergency preparedness and eliminate needless waste at the same time. Additionally, flashlights and radios are valuable components to an emergency supply kit.  Because of the possibility of power disruption, these items require alternative sources of power.  Therefore, “green” preparedness would include hand-cranked versions and/or rechargeable batteries to reduce the quantity and cost related to preparedness. Lastly, you can also use canvas totes to store emergency supplies.  These are often sturdy, easy to carry, and have no long-term effects when they are no longer needed.

Make a Plan:

Traditionally, individual and family emergency preparedness plans have been handwritten on paper with duplicate copies made for all involved.  Over the last several years, the emergency managers throughout the Kansas City area have helped develop the PrepareMetroKC campaign and website (www.preparemetrokc.org), which has many wonderful features including the “MyPlan” concept.  This allows individuals and families to complete an emergency preparedness plan and save it to a secured database that can be access and updated at any time for free.  Not only does this type of system save time and energy, it also should ultimately reduce the quantity of paper utilized for traditional planning processes.

Staying Informed:

Staying informed during emergencies and disasters is critical.  However, it is also important to be able to stay informed after the disaster as well.  An easy way to do this is to scan copies of important family and legal documents (ex: birth certificate, wills, etc.) and store them on a mobile storage device (ex: CD or “Jump” drive), which is small in size, nearly universally accepted, and reusable after the emergency or disaster.

Conclusion:

Being prepared for emergencies is important and can easily be done as discussed here.  These methods are often more efficient, effective, and affordable than traditional methods of preparedness.  So thinking “green” can also save you some “green” as well.  Be environmentally-friendly and cost effective as you consider your options for emergency preparedness.