The 2009 Citizen Corps National Survey, a report released by FEMA in August that evaluates the nation's progress on personal preparedness, indicates that perceived emergency preparedness among citizens can differ from actual measures they've taken.

The report highlighted an important finding from the Citizen Preparedness Surveys Database — which contains 102 surveys on individual preparedness, 29 surveys on business and 11 surveys on school preparedness. The report said, “In nearly all cases, these surveys substantiate that the proportion of those who have taken appropriate preparedness measures is much lower than those that indicate that they are prepared.”

To combat this issue, FEMA spokesman Clark Stevens said state and local emergency managers should encourage citizens to develop disaster plans and take CPR and first aid training classes to help them become an asset to the community. “They themselves are going to be going a long way in making sure that the resources that local, state and federal responders bring into any incident can go to the most vulnerable citizens first,” he said. “And all of those citizens who can prepare are really helping to make sure that those resources are first spread out to individuals who couldn’t prepare.”

Although the survey was about personal preparedness, some of the questions illustrate a view of citizens’ familiarity with community emergency plans. These questions were ranked by participants on a scale from one to five, with five being “very familiar” and one being “not familiar at all.” Fifty percent of the participants said they’re very familiar with emergency alerts and warning systems in their communities, while 30 percent were not familiar at all. When asked if they were familiar with public safety sources of information, it was a tie with 38 percent considering themselves to be very familiar and 38 percent saying they were not familiar at all. Another interesting figure was that 47 percent said they were not familiar at all with knowing how to get help evacuating or getting to a shelter.

Participants also were asked about their involvement in local emergency management efforts — 23 percent said that in the last year they had given some time to support emergency responder organizations or an organization that focuses on community safety, such as Neighborhood Watch.

When asked if they had participated in training programs within the last 12 months, 38 percent had attended first aid skills training; 37 percent had attended CPR training; 34 percent had discussed getting prepared with others in the community; 25 percent attended a meeting on how to be better prepared for a disaster; and 13 percent had attended training as part of a Community Emergency Response Team. The report said most people (49 percent) who took emergency classes did so as part of a mandatory function of their job or school.

Participants were asked to identify potential reasons for not preparing, and 30 percent said the primary reason was that they thought emergency responders would help them in the event of a disaster. Respondents also were asked, “What is the main reason you have not received any preparedness training?” Thirty-three percent said it’s difficult to get information on what to do.

“I think the bigger message is that we just need to always do all we can to engage the public — make sure they know they’re part of the team and that they need to do their part too,” Stevens said. “Just like we’re preparing all the time and the state emergency managers are preparing daily and weekly, the public should take the simple steps now to make sure they’re prepared too, because we’re all part of this team and we all work together to face emergencies and disasters.”

[Photo courtesy of FEMA Photo/Mark Wolfe.]