Oakland County residents and businesses can help the county update its emergency preparedness plan by participating in a voluntary online questionnaire, County Executive L. Brooks Patterson announced recently. Feedback from the confidential 10-minute survey will enable Oakland County’s Homeland Security Division to better serve residents and businesses before, during and after an emergency or disaster.
“Oakland County has a continuous commitment to planning, training, and exercising response capabilities for all types of disasters,” Patterson said. “This voluntary and confidential questionnaire will assist our emergency preparedness staff in identifying which hazards are of most concern to our residents and businesses as well as which services the community may need during an emergency.”
Some sample questions are:
• If a disaster (i.e. snow storm) impacted Oakland County, knocking out electricity and running water, would your household be able to manage on its own for at least three (3) days?
• Do you believe that your household and/or place of business might ever be threatened by the following hazards? Please rate what hazards present the greatest risk.
• What might prevent you from leaving your place of residence if there was an evacuation order? Please select ALL that apply.
• In an evacuation, would you or anyone in your household require special assistance?
“The success of our response to a disaster will depend on how well we have prepared in advance,” said Thomas Hardesty, manager of Oakland County Homeland Security Division. “The more survey responses we receive from residents and businesses, the better we will be able to prepare for an emergency.”
To fill out the questionnaire, go to http://oakland.preparedness.sgizmo.com/s3/. The survey will remain open until Sept. 1. For a hard copy version of the survey, contact the Oakland County Homeland Security Division at oakhsd@oakgov.com or call 248-858-5300. Businesses which are interested in having their employees confidentially participate in the survey in order to utilize the data to update their business emergency preparedness plans may contact Homeland Security Division to make those arrangements.
Oakland County adheres to federal requirements to update its emergency preparedness plans every five years in an effort to keep residents, businesses, and organizations well prepared and vigilant. Oakland County last conducted an emergency preparedness survey in 2012. The purpose of emergency preparedness planning is to identify policies and actions that can be implemented over the long term to reduce risk and future losses.
Oakland County Homeland Security Division is dedicated to supporting Oakland County cities, villages, and townships through a coordination of effort for logistical support during emergency operations by enhancing all-hazard preparedness along with comprehensive homeland security initiatives and first responder training. Oakland County Homeland Security Division develops and coordinates programs for natural, technological, national security, and nuclear/chemical/biological emergencies/disasters affecting Oakland County. For additional information, go to OakGov.com/HomelandSecurity.
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