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Mayor’s Message April 2012 Along with bringing April showers and May flowers, this spring arrives with the opportunity for reviewing our personal preparedness. On April 17th at 10:15 a.m., “The Great Utah ShakeOut,” an earthquake safety preparedness event, will take place. Everyone in the State is invited to participate, whether you are in a workplace, school or at home. I am looking forward to learning from this drill as I participate at City Hall and will check on things around the City. As City officials, we will be activating our Emergency Operations Center that is located in Fire Station 82. I will be working with our public safety personnel and the City Departments to be certain we practice for a variety of possible scenarios. One thing that we do realize is that in the event of an earthquake there will not be enough trained people to go around. I hope this exercise will help all of us focus on how we can best take care of our own needs until expansive help can arrive. I wanted to share some ideas from the website at shakeout.org/utah. Please take advantage of this site to learn more. These are Seven Steps for Earthquake Safety that can help make our lives easier after a large scale event. 1. Do a ‘hazard hunt’ for items that might fall and secure them. 2. Create a personal or family disaster-preparedness plan that accounts for the specific needs of your family, teaches everyone to use a fire extinguisher and make small cards with essential contact information for everyone to carry. 3. Organize or refresh your emergency supply kits. Store at least one gallon of water per person, per day for at least three days and consider what else you would need to be on your own for up to 2 weeks. Think about what you should have in your car or office, too. 4. Identify your building’s weaknesses. You may want to get a structural inspection from a contractor. This is also a good time to review and update your insurance coverage. 5. Create a game where everyone responds to a signal by practicing Drop – Cover – Hold On. 6. Enroll in a local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training to learn more about how to help yourself and others in a disaster. Check the City website for upcoming classes. 7. Communicate and recover by having access to a portable radio to hear instructions. Be ready to contact insurance companies for damage reporting. While these items can sometimes seem overwhelming, I would encourage you to pick one item and do it on April 17th. That will empower you to make a plan to accomplish the other items on this list. Please join us in this drill to help us all be more prepared. Even small efforts can pay big dividends for the future of our families and community.