| Home > Rockville City Police > Emergency Preparedness |  | ||
Rockville City Police Department
When preparing kits, plan to make it on your own for at least three days. Essential items you will need:
Make A Plan You should be familiar with the emergency plans for family members' places of employment and/or school. Find out how they will communicate with families during an emergency. Knowing their emergency plans will better prepare individuals to safely reunite with their families and loved ones after an emergency. Identifying what type of an emergency that is present will assist in determining whether to stay or go. Emergency information is commonly broadcasted via radio and television. You should understand and plan for both possibilities. Staying put is also known as “sheltering in place.” In certain circumstances you may be asked to shelter in place and “seal the room” you are in from potentially contaminated outside air. When notified to do so, or if you suspect that the outside air is contaminated, you should immediately bring your family and pets inside. Lock doors, close windows, air vents, fireplace dampers, and turn off fans and/or air conditioning/heating systems. If possible choose an interior room with few windows and doors. To seal a room use plastic sheeting or plastic garage bags with duct tape to seal windows, doors and air vents. This is a temporary protective measure to create a barrier between you and potentially contaminated air outside. It is strongly recommended that you measure, precut, and label your sheeting so as not to waste time during an actual emergency. Remember to take your emergency supply kit. In certain situations you may decide to get away or be ordered to leave. Create an evacuation plan now to identify places where your family will meet, both within and outside of your immediate neighborhood. Identify alternate routes to get to or away from your location. Remember to take your emergency supply kit and lock your doors. Your evacuation plan should include provisions for your pets. Pets are not allowed in public shelters. Arrangements should be made ahead of time to locate places (kennels, motels, relatives, etc) that will accept your pets in case of an emergency evacuation. If time permits, consider calling or e-mailing your out-of-state contact and leaving a note in the house to inform others when you left and where you are going.
A biological attack is the deliberate release of germs or other substances that can make you sick (anthrax, smallpox, botulism, plague). Many agents must be inhaled, enter through a cut in the skin or eaten to make you sick. Some are non contagious (anthrax). However, others are (smallpox). A chemical attack is the deliberate release of a toxic gas, liquid or solid that can poison people and the environment. Examples include nerve agents (VX, Sarin), Cyanide, blister agents (Mustard), etc. A nuclear blast is an explosion with intense light and heat, a damaging pressure wave and widespread radioactive material that can contaminate the air, water and ground surfaces for miles around. A radiation threat or "dirty bomb” is the use of common explosives to spread radioactive materials over a targeted area. While the blast will be immediately obvious, the presence of radiation will not (need specialized equipment). When it comes to a terrorist threat, you may be required to take additional actions. Guidance will be provided to citizens via various forms of media. For More Information Alert Rockville: Rockville residents can be notified instantly of a variety of emergency situations through the “Alert Rockville” program. Residents must sign up for Alert Rockville, which will send emergency alerts as e-mails that go to their computers or as text messages delivered to their cell phones, as messages sent to personal electronic communication devices such as pagers or BlackBerrys. The system is free for users. Reverse 911: Reverse 911 is a separate operation from Alert Rockville, but is just as vital. Reverse 911 allows contact of citizens and/or businesses via telephone to inform them of urgent situations. Citizens must sign up to be part of the Alert Rockville notification system. Participation in the Reverse 911 is automatic for all phone users. Reverse 911 operates through a database of City of Rockville phone numbers provided by the local telephone company. Damage from hurricanes and other extreme weather conditions, fires, hazardous chemical spills, public water supply concerns and serious criminal investigations (i.e., searches for suspects, missing children, etc.) are examples of when a Reverse 911 alert phone call may be made to citizens in an affected City neighborhood or throughout the entire City. Additional emergency preparedness information:
| |||
