Building Disaster Resistant Neighborhoods Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop March 9 2006

The mission of Building Disaster Resistant Neighborhoods is to work within a neighborhood environment to educate individuals and families of the various disaster threats they face and how vulnerable they are to those threats. Then working with various subject matter experts from fire, insurance, emergency management, disaster planning and forestry neighbors are brought together to participate in a Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop.

Before individuals and families participate in a Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop, it is extremely important that the neighborhood leadership have completed a Hazard Identification / Vulnerability Assessment (HIVA) for their neighborhood. The on-line tools necessary to complete a HIVA can be found at:

Document	Format
Hazard Identification / Vulnerability Assessment	HTML

Next comes the delivery of appropriate disaster education, preparedness and mitigation information to each residence within the neighborhood. A wide variety of disaster education, preparedness and mitigation publications can be found at:

Document	Format
Disaster Education, Preparedness, Planning and Mitigation   Library	HTML

The following is an overview of how a Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop should be facilitated.

	It is important to understand that according to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of a neighborhood is where individuals and families gather to live or work. A neighborhood could be a traditional subdivision, a manufactured home park, an apartment complex, a condominium, even an area served by a volunteer fire department.
	During a Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop individuals and families will come together to here disaster preparedness and mitigation advise from a wide variety of Subject Matter Experts.
	The Subject Matter Experts represent a wide variety of agencies / organizations: American Red Cross Emergency Management Department Fire Department Forester Disaster Animal Response Team Insurance Industry Law Enforcement
	During this workshop participants view the Building Disaster Resistant Neighborhoods video.
	Chris Floyd, Emergency Services Director for the Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross facilitates a portion of the workshop on general disaster preparedness and mitigation.
	Next up was Robby Powers, Emergency Management Coordinator for the Leon County Sheriff's Office Division of Emergency Management. Robby also presented information on various personal disaster preparedness activities including putting a Disaster Supplies Kit together.
	Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop participants give their full attention to each of the facilitators.
	Next on the schedule was a representative from the Tallahassee Fire Department speaking on home fire safety and prevention.
	An important part of mitigating the effects of disaster of individuals, families and the homes they live in is to insure the homes are properly insured. During this portion of the Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness Workshop a representative from the State of Florida Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance presents information on how to review your insurance policies.

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