As a public information officer for a local health department, I work to find new ways to educate people about their health and how to protect themselves in the case of a natural, man-made, biological or radiological disaster.
The challenge is that many people aren’t any more prepared for a common house fire than they are for an earthquake, tsunami or something worse.
I never used to think about being prepared for the unthinkable until I experienced my first earthquake.
It was in Japan at the beginning of the 2005 school year, and I was one year into my two-year stint as a high school English teacher in Yamagata Prefecture, an area just west of Sendai and about an hour north of Fukushima City.
My students were preparing a mikoshi (portable shrine) for the town’s summer festival. In the midafternoon, as students were busy hammering nails and putting the finishing touches on the shrine, the ground began to shake violently.
Everyone knew the right thing to do, however. Students and teachers ducked under desks and moved away from glass windows.
While emergency radios weren’t necessary for this particular tremor, the teachers had them and knew how to use them.
Surprisingly, I knew what to do as well, not because I had a keen understanding of the importance of emergency preparedness, but because as a resident and teacher in rural Japan, emergency preparedness was drilled into my subconscious.
It seemed like every few weeks, teachers engaged students in some kind of safety drill that involved ducking for cover, running to safety, moving to higher ground or putting out imaginary fires with real fire extinguishers.
Sometimes teachers would make a game out of it, getting students ready for the worst by running them through an intricate emergency preparedness obstacle course.
At the time, I often felt as if teachers were overdoing it, but given the recent devastation to the greater Sendai area from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, I’m extremely glad the people of Yamagata err on the side of caution.
Since the earthquake, mail service to the region has been disrupted, and many people are without electricity, running water and fresh food.
I’ve been happy, however, to find that virtually all of my friends from Yamagata are still alive.
I truly feel that if it were not for cautious efforts of the people of the Sendai region, many more lives would have been lost in this disaster.
The lesson I believe we can take from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is that an ounce of precaution is worth a pound of cure.
While the next big disaster to hit Georgia may not look like an earthquake or tsunami, having the right supplies and a plan will help improve our outcomes.
Ready.gov is a wonderful resource in preparing Americans for the unthinkable, with lots of useful information about emergency kits, safety plans and education for children.
If one is unsure of what to put into a three-day emergency kit, the Red Cross Store online sells kits that are already prepared.
The events in Japan show that even a little bit of planning can make a world of difference. If more Georgians take steps to prepare themselves, we can prevent catastrophic events from getting the best of us.
Joel Hall, a journalist and former English teacher with the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, is the public information officer/communications coordinator for the Clayton County Board of Health.
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