If there’s anything that the past year has taught us, it’s try to be prepared for the unexpected. At the beginning of last year who would have thought we’d be locked down by an invisible virus? Last summer who would have thought we’d have to evacuate our homes, or even lose them, to raging wildfires? This spring who would have thought that we’d be without power, water, and heat, that the ice storms brought?
But we’re Beavercreek. When kids couldn’t get meals at school because of the lockdown, we had free meals for pickup at the Grange. When the fires raged, we helped each other, and our animals, by pitching in with earth-moving equipment for fire lines and trucks and trailers to move livestock. When the power went out we helped each other with shelter and generators.
So planning ahead and being prepared isn’t new to us. One disaster some of us are worried about is a giant earthquake when the subduction zone off the Oregon coast gives way. This seismic shift occurs about every 500 years, and it’s a couple of hundred years overdue. It’s not IF but WHEN.
The Oregon Emergency Management Department has given disaster relief and mitigation some thought. The State will do what it can as fast as it can, but it won’t be immediate. Knowing this, they’ve developed several guides about individual preparedness. Check out this link for how you can be better prepared for the next wild card nature throws at us.