Map Your Poulsbo Neighborhood from BKAT TV on Vimeo.
POULSBO — Following a natural disaster, such as a major earthquake, you and your neighbors can expect to be on your own for up to seven days. That’s according to many emergency-response agencies.
In other words, your neighbors will be your first responders.
Who in your neighborhood is skilled in firefighting, search and rescue, and first aid? Who has carpentry, electrical and plumbing skills? Who has children that will need to be cared for? Which of your neighbors has special needs? Who owns first aid supplies, tents and spare bedding, chain saws, generators, fire extinguishers, camp stoves, walkie talkies, weather radios, ladders, crow bars, and strong rope?
Become prepared and start the process of mapping your neighborhood at one of two upcoming seminars, titled “Map Your Poulsbo Neighborhood”: 6:30-8 p.m. April 19, or 10:30 a.m. to noon April 23, in the Poulsbo City Hall council chambers.
The seminars are free and sponsored by the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management, Poulsbo Fire Department, Poulsbo Police Department, City of Poulsbo, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Kitsap Herald.
Online registration begins March 7 at www.kitsapdem.org. For more information or to pre-register your neighborhood team, email kecolebrook@gmail.com.
Volunteer coordinator Kim Colebrook, a resident of the Vinland Pointe neighborhood of Poulsbo, has been leading the recruitment of neighborhood representatives — a team captain and two volunteers from each neighborhood in Poulsbo — to attend one of the seminars. Each representative will learn the first nine steps to take immediately following a disaster to ensure homes are secure and neighborhoods protected; how to identify a neighborhood gathering site and a neighborhood care center; and how to conduct a neighborhood skills and equipment inventory.
The “Map Your Poulsbo Neighborhood” program builds on the established Map Your Neighborhood program developed by the state and county emergency management departments, and employed in several Kitsap neighborhoods today.
Colebrook recommends captains for neighborhood groups or subgroups of 12–20 homes. Because of limited space, registration is suggested and each registered neighborhood should send only their captain and two volunteers.
