On any given day, families depend on others to provide safety and support for their family members whether it is at home, school or work. For most days, this will follow the plans that are in place to handle the emergencies that might typically occur such as accidents that may result in minor injuries. However, are there plans in place to handle events that happen less frequently or those of a disaster magnitude?
In 2012, there were 47 federal major disaster declarations. Since January of 2013, there have already been 12 federal declarations for major disasters. According to a recent report from the Environment America Research and Policy Center titled, “In the Path of the Storm,” approximately 77 million Americans live in counties that experienced federally declared weather-related disasters in 2012 alone. Whether it is the result of severe storms, flooding, mudslides or wildfires, people have had to evacuate their homes and sometimes their communities for their own safety. Many individuals and families have personal emergency response plans that they have developed to use as a resource during these difficult times. However, do you know the plans that are in place when family members are under the watch of others?
There is an expectation that if we assign responsibility to safeguard our family members outside of our watch, that this will happen . . . but does it? This paper will focus on locations where we assign the responsibility to safeguard our family members to others: School, hospitals and nursing homes and their disaster response preparedness.