Emergency Preparedness & Risk Registers

In September of this year, a number of gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley (Massachusetts), devastated 40 houses, and resulted in thousands of persons being displaced from their homes. As of November 2018, California wildfires have caused nearly $3 Billions of destruction, making it the most destructive wildfire season ever. Both of these hazards (one accidental, the other natural) – as opposed to threats where malicious intent is prevalent – have impacted the lives of thousands in the US, in a very short period of time. Both were emergencies, in that they took those involved by surprise, and were unexpected, however with correct planning and preparation the consequences/impact of both events for individuals involved, could have in most cases been lessened and mitigated. During my time(s) working in Close Protection (bodyguarding), the construction of Risk Registers was key to every project and operation that I was involved with i.e. there had to be a plan in place for what to do, should we get cut off from the hotel we were using as a base, etc. Even though in most instances this was unlikely, it was something that was never overlooked, because when the unlikely happens, and especially when it happens, you want to know what to do; it is not the time you want to improvise and start constructing best-guess solutions on the fly i.e. it’s in emergencies that you need a previously worked-out plan to follow - one that you’ve already run through, and can trust.

We often think that bad things won’t happen to us, especially if we live in a modern economy with good law and order, etc. However, emergency preparedness, isn’t the same as “prepping” i.e. you’re not planning for the breakdown of society and civilization, but rather in how best to deal with short-term emergencies; and these can happen to anyone. For the past 20 years, the Northeast of the US has suffered from blackouts, and relatively long-duration power outages; one of the most notable being the 2003 blackout of New York City, that took 3-5 days to rectify – if you were to lose power for 3 days, would  you have a plan you could implement straight away, or would you find yourself solving problems as you encountered/experienced them? Hopefully this article will help you develop an idea of the things you should consider in making your own Risk Register. When you travel, be it for work or pleasure, you may want to also consider making a register that is pertinent to the risks that you face e.g. if an airport was closed or flights were cancelled, as in 2010 when volcanic ash from mount Eyjafjallajokull prevented air travel across many routes, would you have the means to deal with such an emergency? Even though many of us won’t have to deal with a major emergency in our lives, it is worth spending some time planning for what we would do – as those in the Merrimack Valley they had no reason to expect to be evacuated from their homes and be refused re-entry for several days, and in some cases weeks. My aim is not to be alarmist, but to try and motivate people to have a plan in place (that they’ve tested) should they experience something as simple as having a fire/flood in their home that makes it uninhabitable, or find themselves being evacuated, and/or refused entry to their property; don’t rely on the fact that the police will let you cross a cordon/boundary, simply because your request seems reasonable to you.

Many people confuse risk with likelihood. Though the two are intertwined, they are distinct and different. Risk occurs where assets, threats (in the case of risk registers, hazards – such as accidental and natural disasters - must also be considered alongside threats, which involve malicious intent) and vulnerabilities occur. Likelihood, is the chance of a risk occurring, based on history, research, statistics etc. If you live in an area classified as a “flood plain”, your likelihood of being flooded, is far greater than that of someone who lives in an area not known for flooding. Likelihood is also subject to change e.g. as sea levels rise, areas which were once unlikely to see flooding, may now see themselves more likely to experience this – which means our risk registers need to be kept updated. When we think about risks, we should consider first those that are most likely, along with those that have the greatest consequences associated with them.

From a day-to-day perspective, you should plan for two basic types of emergency: one where you are forced to evacuate your home when you are in it, and the other when you are away from it and are refused entry to it when you return. There are some commonalities between the two, such as where you and your family are going to stay – if you have pets you will also want to consider where these will stay during the emergency as government/state shelters may not allow them in, and it may be hard to find hotels (have a list on your risk register) which will accept them, especially if there is a shortage of rooms caused by the emergency, etc. In both situations you will want to have cash, especially if power is out for a large area, as ATM’s won’t be functioning, and shops and stores won’t be able to process credit card transactions. Cash is also useful if you find you need to buy things, such as gas/petrol, from other people rather than retailers. However, if you only keep cash at your house and you’re denied access to your home, it’s of little use to you there. The same is true of prescription drugs. You may not want to keep prescription drugs at your place of work – and your company may well have policies regarding this - but keeping photocopies of prescriptions, along with other documents may help you in getting them re-filled should such an emergency occur. This is one occasion where paper/hard copies are your best friend: if power is out, you may not be able to access electronic copies. Keep the original documents, along with passports, visas and the like in a water-proof and/or fire-proof container rather than in a drawer or cupboard in your home. If you are evacuating your home, it will save time, if everything you need is in one place.

Have a rendezvous point (RV) that all family members are aware of, if you/they are away from your house, when an emergency occurs that prevents you/them returning to it – if you want to be ultra-prepared, have several, so if any of these become blocked off, you will know where to find each other. Don’t rely on cell-phones working, as depending on the nature of the emergency the network may be down, or become inaccessible e.g. a network may become overburdened if everyone in a certain locale is calling each other at the same time, etc. Having a rendezvous point, that everybody is aware of, and has a chance of getting to, means that everybody in your family can be accounted for and will be able to stay together; and energy and mental bandwidth doesn’t have to be taken up worrying about each other. We may mock the need and usefulness of landlines in the age of mobile phones, but depending on the nature of the emergency (such as a cyber-attack on a cellphone network) these may be a more reliable means of communication. It is also worth familiarizing yourself with the localities, and how to get to different locations in it, such as hospitals, police stations etc. or how to exit it, if different routes become blocked. If you are wholly reliant on your GPS, and the network is down, you may find yourself trapped or impeded.

When emergencies first hit, information is a premium, but it’s important that you have trusted sources on which you can rely. I follow on Twitter, the Massachusetts State Police, because they are one of the agencies that I trust for information e.g. as the explosions were being heard/experienced in the Merrimack Valley, there was a lot of speculation that they were part of a terrorist attack; the State Police via Twitter made the first announcement that it was due to the over-pressurization of gas. It is worth finding a trusted source who can keep you up-to-date with what is going on, so that you can respond appropriately.

If you unexpectedly found yourself having to deal with an armed assailant who was committed to causing you harm, you’d want to know what to do – you’d want to be following a plan, a sequence of actions, etc. You wouldn’t want to be leaving it to chance; you might think that the likelihood of having to deal with such a situation is low (and you’d largely be right), but in that moment you’d be wishing that you’d spared some time to think about what you would do, how you should react, etc. Emergency Preparedness is no different. If you came back to your neighborhood to find that a police line was informing you that you couldn’t return to your home, and you didn’t know where your kids were, etc., you’d wish that you’d spent some time formulating a plan, and possibly running through it ahead of time, to make sure it worked. Things that we value aren’t left to chance, and we should prepare ourselves to deal with them, so that in the worst situation and scenario, we can ensure the best possible outcome.