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July 5, 1999
To:Community Services Committee
From:Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services
Subject:Emergency Preparedness - Public Education
Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to outline plans for public education on emergency preparedness. This is a supplementary report to our report submitted to the July 14th, 1999 Community Services Committee meeting entitled "Amendments to Emergency Planning By-law No. 47-1998 and Revisions to the City of Toronto Emergency Plan".
Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:
N/A
Recommendations:
That this report be received for information.
Council Reference/Background/History:
N/A
Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:
The approach of the year 2000 has caused a heightened sense of concern about emergency preparedness among some of the city's residents. A number of individuals and groups have contacted the City to inquire about its readiness to deal with emergency situations. This provides the City with a unique opportunity to respond to that public concern by educating residents about their and the City's role in any disaster situation.
Fire Services division of the Works & Emergency Services department is taking the lead on personal emergency preparedness planning. It is adding four pages of Toronto information to a 24-page brochure entitled Be Prepared, Not Scared: Emergency Preparedness Starts With You written by Emergency Preparedness Canada and the Canadian Red Cross. This detailed brochure suggests procedures, priorities and checklists that citizens should act on in order to be prepared for any kind of emergency. These brochures will be distributed through local fire stations. Fire Services has also added emergency preparedness information to its web site. The web site information is accessed through the City's main web site. Fire services public education staff are also incorporating emergency preparedness information into the standard fire safety presentations that they make to the public.
Works and Emergency Services has prepared a synopsis of the brochure in a fact sheet. It pays particular attention to the items that residents should acquire to prepare home and vehicle emergency kits and the procedures they should follow before and during an emergency. This fact sheet will be translated into a number of languages. A second companion fact sheet discusses the City of Toronto's Emergency Plan and Emergency Planning Committee.
The information detailed above is largely geared to individual residents and households who want to plan appropriately for emergencies. The city plans to provide additional guidelines for community or other groups who want more neighbourhood-specific information such as identifying local resources.
For more information on the City of Toronto's Emergency Plan and the Toronto Emergency Planning Committee, and for inquiries related to personal emergency preparedness planning, call Toronto Fire Services at 397-4332 or fax to 397-4370.
Conclusions:
The approach of the year 2000 has provided the City with a unique opportunity to educate residents about personal emergency preparedness planning. Fire Services division of the Works & Emergency Services department is taking the lead and is providing brochures, web site information, presentations and fact sheets on personal emergency preparedness planning. The City plans to provide additional guidelines for community or other groups who want more neighbourhood-specific information.
Contact Name:
Nicole Dufort
Manager, Communications
Works and Emergency Services
Tel: 392-2963
Fax: 392-2974
W. R. (Bill) Forrest
Director, Support Services
Barry H. Gutteridge
Commissioner, Works and Emergency Services
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