Emergency planning in action
Communities in Gloucestershire have used their Emergency Plans in the past months...
During the snow in 2010 Weston sub Edge put their plan on standby and instigated their telephone helpline. Requests for prescriptions were collected from the pharmacy by a volunteer with a 4X4 vehicle.
These are the sort of practical actions which can be put in place by local communities and pre-planning makes it work that much more smoothly.
Lechlade's Community Emergency Plan was put into action when a traffic accident ruptured a gas main and 150 people had to be evacuated from their homes. Cllr Sue Coakley (Town Councillor and the Coordination Lead) said “This event underlined the importance of having the Plan in place, ready to go. The accident happened at 6.30 am well outside normal office hours, and when many residents were still in bed. The Police rang Cotswold District Council's District Emergency Planning Liaison Officer (DEPLO) who is the next link in the chain and they subsequently contacted me. As it happens our plan is well known in the community so I had already received a call from a local resident and within 15 minutes we had the Memorial Hall open as a place of safety, with volunteers on site to make tea and to welcome people. The Memorial Hall is the ideal location for this as we have plenty of parking and easy access to the building and, of course, most residents already know where it is. Once the Plan was activated, the systems were effective, and the volunteers were superb.”