There are a few extreme circumstances such as a 30 foot wall of water during a tsunami or a 10-point Richter scale earthquake that are so severe it is impossible to prepare for the disaster. However, in most cases people can take a few steps to ensure their survivability during a disaster. Personal preparedness involves being both physically and mentally prepared to meet basic needs for at least three days without outside help. In the last module, we talked about the disaster cycle including mitigation, response, and recovery. In this module, our focus centers on the response phase. The disaster has hit and you are taking steps to survive and to be as safe and comfortable as possible. In the lectures, I will focus on food, shelter, water, and light in a disaster situation. In addition, we have on-site instructional videos that highlight survival skills such as fire-building and water purification. Do we have any campers in the class? For those of you who are campers, these skills will be a familiar review of basic wilderness survival techniques. The lectures will also give you ideas of supplies that you might want to include in your disaster kit. Take notes during the lectures to prepare for the discussion and quiz.

What disasters should we prepare for?

Disasters rarely happen conveniently next to a fully stocked hospital. Indeed, the very nature of disasters are to overwhelm available resources. Often people are injured during a disaster or during the recovery from a disaster. When the normal medical processes are unavailable, you may find yourself in a position to offer first aid or further medical care depending on your training level. Resource limited medicine, also called austere medicine, is concerned with training people to provide the best care possible with limited tools, personnel, space or time. Whether you have only what is in your backpack or you are helping at a temporary field station in a parking lot, resource limited first involves making the best use of the resources and materials at hand for treatment. At the end of the module, be sure to complete the quiz.

In this module, we will focus our collective attention on the most vulnerable in our communities. During a disaster, it is the vulnerable that pay the highest price and have the least resources with which to rescue themselves. First, recognizing the issues is paramount, and then exploring tactics that can be used to prepare to protect, rescue, and mitigate harm during a disaster for anyone in our community that is at increased risk. This could be due to age, disability, dependence on others, lack of transportation, lack of infrastructure, and lack of knowledge. Our mission is to notice and respond to all folks and to attempt to decrease harm when we can. At the end of the module, be sure to complete the quiz.

Disasters can be sudden, violent and overwhelming. Many people affected by disasters must deal with loss and change. While everyone processes the feelings and the trauma related to disastrous events in their own time, responders can help decrease stress and decrease long term suffering by using the principles of Psychological First Aid which will be reviewed and discussed in the following lecture, reading and activity.