Community resilience is about recognising how vital local knowledge and community networks are to increase preparedness to an emergency as well as increasing speed and effectiveness of an emergency response. Many families, households and communities already prepare vital items beforehand and help themselves and one another in times of need.
For instance:
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preparing a grab bag for your home and/or car so you have key items with you should you be evacuated
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clearing ice and snow or leaves from blocked paths to allow people to keep moving and reduce the chances of accidents
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helping to identify the elderly or frail during evacuations allowing the emergency services to focus critical resources on those most at need
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providing key local resources for use to your neighbours during severe power outages such as gas cookers or wood burning stoves.
Previous experience has shown that those who have spent even a small amount of time planning and preparing for emergencies are better placed to respond and recover quickly.
So to help our local residents and communities better prepare for emergencies we have created guide books and templates to help you keep your home, your family and your community safe.
- The Community Resilience Guide Book is a handy guide that gives you a comprehensive overview of the 7 risks most likely to occur in Brent, what its impacts are and what you can do to stay safe.
- The Brent Community Emergency Response Procedures Template (.doc, 284.5kB) helps you identifying local risks, skills and resources as well as defining steps to take during an emergency response.
- The Community response procedures toolkit (.pdf, 294.8kB) is an accompanying guidance document designed to help you prepare for the emergencies that could affect your community.
- The Brent household response procedures (.pdf, 174.7kB) helps you to consider potential dangers in and around your home and put actions and a plan in place to help you stay safe and resilient.
By becoming more resilient, you and your community can complement the work of local emergency responders and reduce the impact of an emergency on your community.
So if you think your household or family would benefit from filling out our short Household Emergency Procedures Template and getting a small grab bag together, then please use the documents provided to look into what you and your family can do to help you stay safe at home and out and about in Brent.
If you are part of a local community or action group and think there might be opportunities for you and your local community to become more resilient, please use the community emergency response procedures template and accompanying toolkit to investigate and set out exactly what you and your community can achieve.
For further information and guidance please contact our emergency planning team at: emergency.planning@brent.gov.uk or read our other emergency planning pages in the 'Things to Read' section, where you will be able to access detailed information on preparing and responding to an emergency in your local area.