As Michael Adamson, Chief Executive of British Red Cross highlighted in the third webinar from The Emergency Planning Society, “it’s local people who respond first.” It’s our primary goal at Communities Prepared to ensure Community Emergency Volunteers are empowered with the knowledge and confidence to prepare for, and respond to a range of emergencies and we are delighted that we can now deliver our free tailored training to groups via webinar. To support you in identifying your community’s next steps on its resilience journey, we’re holding 30-minute free telephone advice sessions, tailored to your community’s priorities. Topics for discussion might include, but are not limited to:
• Developing your Community Emergency Plan
• Training and skills – identifying any knowledge gaps and developing a tailored training plan
• Volunteer management, with a focus on spontaneous volunteers post crisis response
• Communications
Sessions will be run by Paul Robertson and Imogen Smith from the Communities Prepared team. Paul has over 5 years’ experience in setting up and running his own Community Emergency Volunteer group, while Imogen brings her expertise in marketing, communications and fundraising.
On July 14th, the Environment Agency launched its new Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy, setting out a range of measures to prepare and protect millions of homes and businesses from the impact of climate change. As the global temperature rises and weather patterns become more extreme, we must prepare for more frequent and severe weather-related emergencies and focus on the ongoing task of building both personal and community resilience.
COVID-19 has demanded more from us as individuals and communities than we ever thought possible. While we begin to process and grieve for what has happened collectively and individually, we must recognise the importance of volunteering and apply this spirit of collaboration, communication and kindness to everything we doing moving forwards. As was highlighted during the first Communities Prepared Crisis Recovery webinar, “we must not waste a good crisis.” Now is the time to rest, reflect and regroup so that we can better prepare for future unknowns.
Coming up
Unable to make our earlier webinars? Never fear! Due to popular demand we are repeating our Crisis Recovery webinar on July 29th. We are delighted to be joined again by Charlotte Eisenhart, Head of Member Services at National Association of Local Councils, who will be presenting on the structure of crisis recovery. Thank you to NALC who have supported us with the development of this webinar. Other topics explored on the webinar include: the recovery timeline, building a community narrative and putting back better.
