Supporting each other in an emergency or crisis
Community Resilience, is the ability of a place, neighbourhood or community to withstand and recover from major disruptions, such as natural disasters, health crises, or major accidents.
It’s a combination of preparedness and capacity and capability to respond to these disruptions and to changing conditions – and by doing so recover effectively.
Put simply, community resilience focuses on building a strong group of people who are willing and able to work together to help and support each other and those who are vulnerable around them when an emergency happens in their area.
Thankfully, major emergencies are rare but when they do happen they can be devastating.
Flooding, severe weather, pandemics and major power outages are just some of emergencies that could happen with little or no notice.
Disruption to essential services such as water, gas and electricity, regional and national travel and telecommunications are all ways an emergency can affect our everyday lives.
At these times, community resilience, or looking out for each other, makes sense. It means the vulnerable people living in your area are likely to get the help and support they need quicker and there is a plan on how and where you can provide support.
Do you have an emergency plan?
We can't always prevent emergencies from happening but we can get prepared to lessen their impact.
Being prepared can reduce the effects on your life and your loved ones, reduce your need for support from others and help you support vulnerable members of your community.
Download our quick and easy Emergency Plan today to help you prepare for an emergency.
Pack an Emergency kit
An emergency situation could happen at any time, but are you prepared for it?
Have you got any fully charged power banks in your home to recharge your devices if there was a power cut?
Do you have a wind-up radio or battery powered radio so you could tune into news updates?
Could you locate your passports, insurance documents, birth certificates and other important documents if you needed to leave your home in a hurry?
Use our guide to put together your own Emergency Pack to help you get better prepared.
Emergency Rest Centres
An emergency rest centre is a safe temporary shelter or haven for people who need to be evacuated from their homes.
In some serious emergency situations such as flooding, fire or a bomb warning, the police may advise people to leave their homes. If this happens, the local council, with the help of voluntary organisations such as the Red Cross, will set up a rest centre to look after evacuees who have nowhere else to stay.
Rest centres are often set up in leisure centres, schools or church halls and provide a safe shelter for people until they are allowed to return to their homes or are provided with temporary accommodation.
Setting up a rest centre is a fairly complex task. When somebody has been evacuated from their home they need to be registered so that their family or friends can be told they are safe.
Evacuees may need food and drink, medication and help with health problems, clothes, pet care and sleeping arrangements if the evacuation is overnight
Councils have fully trained officers able to deal with these needs in an emergency situation. They run rest centre test exercises to put into practice their rest centre training. These exercises provide an opportunity to learn and improve plans for real emergencies.