March 7, 2007
“Plan2Survive”
San Joaquin County Disaster Public Education Campaign
by RONALD E. BALDWIN
DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY OPERATIONS SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
The Cities of Stockton and Lathrop and the County of San Joaquin are participating in a disaster public education campaign called “Plan2Survive” that will run at least through the Summer of 2007. It has always been difficult to get members of the general public to take preparedness steps before a disaster. Yet the growing awareness of threats to San Joaquin County, such as a major flood, makes it important to try to develop ways of getting as many members of the community as possible more prepared.
In order to improve effectiveness, the general strategy of the Plan2Survive public education campaign will be to focus all campaign activities on trying to convince the average person to take three very specific preparedness actions. Each simple action will help them better deal with an emergency. The three actions do not cost much to take and do not take much time to perform.
Residents of participating jurisdictions will be asked to do take following actions.
- Obtain a portable battery or equivalent powered AM/FM radio and know the Emergency Alert System control station (KFBK, 1530 AM) frequency and how public safety officials will communicate critical information to citizens.
- Start an “evacuation” kit by obtaining a small spare kit and inserting three items that the government or Red Cross cannot supply if you evacuate without them:
A.) Copies of prescriptions/lists of medications taken by family members.
B.) Family contact plan with contact information/telephone numbers of relatives and friends living out of the area.
C.) Copies of important family documents such as insurance policies.
- Start planning for pets and animals
A.) Place a picture with written description of pets in the evacuation kit.
B.) Obtain a license and collar for small pets
C.) Obtain a carrier for small animals for ease of transport in an evacuation
In order to get this message out to a wide audience several campaign advertising products are being developed with available public funds. These include a speaker’s bureau for Plan2Survive presentations, a campaign brochure in English and Spanish, a 30-second TV advertisement, a 60-second radio advertisement, a campaign website (plan2survive.org) and an ad series for local newspapers. Other products may be developed as the campaign progresses.
Public funds available for this campaign are sufficient to develop campaign products but can only support a very limited distribution of many of them. In order to increase the effectiveness of this effort, the United Way of San Joaquin County has been approached to help set up a process for allowing the local community to participate in getting the campaign message out. Businesses or other organizations interested in helping will be able, through the local United Way, to sponsor the distribution of one of the specific campaign products mentioned above. Appropriate acknowledgement of the sponsoring organization will be provided to the receiving public. There is a donation brochure providing sponsorship details and a campaign consultant is available to work with interested organizations.
The effectiveness of this campaign will be measured through an interactive telephone survey conducted in a sample area (total of around 6,000 households) once before and once after the campaign to provide measurable results of campaign activities. The initial survey has been completed and the follow up survey will be conducted later this summer. The hope is to better prepare our community to lessen the psychological and physical impact of future floods and disasters.
BIOGRAPHY
Ron has held the position of Director of Emergency Operations for San Joaquin County since 1982. During his tenure, Ron has directed response to major floods in 1982-83, 1986, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2004, and 2006. He has been involved for many years in efforts to develop better flood contingency and evacuation plans and deals daily with a wide range of Homeland Security and earthquake preparedness activities. Ron is a native of the Central Valley and grew up on a family farm near Modesto. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Masters of Public Administration from California State University, Stanislaus. He lives in Ripon with his wife and two sons.