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PREP group forges ahead

The Point Roberts Emergency Preparedness (PREP) group is working on a database to help community members give and receive aid in case of an emergency.

At their July 21 community information event held adjacent to Sterling Savings Bank PREP members gave tours of the community’s new disaster services trailer, handed out information, water and granola bars, and asked every one who came by to fill out a questionnaire.

The questionnaire asks if a family can accommodate other community members in need of shelter, do they have an alternate heat source if the power is out, or do they have a four-wheel drive vehicle. It also tries to establish how many people and their pets live at each address and what special needs they may have in case of an emergency. “All of this information will go in a database and then we can direct who needs help and who can give it,” said PREP member Ed Lester.

The new disaster services trailer from the Mount Baker chapter of the American Red Cross is one of several ways the group is working on to provide centralized aid. The trailer has food, cooking supplies, water, medical supplies, a generator and emergency shelter all neatly tucked inside. “This is emergency stuff for a small number of people for a short time,” said group member Henry Rosenthal.

However, Lester said, in conjunction with one of the three facilities the group has arranged to use as a community shelter – the fire station, church and community center – and food donations, the supplies in the trailer can help serve a larger number for longer. “They had a flood on the Nooksack River and Costco donated food and they fed 400 people out of this,” he said.

The July 21 event also focused on helping each local family get ready to take care of their own needs (see sidebar).

To receive a copy of the Family Emergency Preparedness Handbook, to register on the list of those interested in taking the next Community Emergency Response course, or to volunteer to work with PREP in any other way, contact the PREP committee at info@prepgroup.org. For more information about what you can do to prepare your family, go to www.prepgroup.org.