Meeting Places: Street Plan
At the Street Level, meeting places are a key element of the Ready Your Street (RYS) program. You can read more about RYS here, but we will start by reviewing the basics of the program as they are directly related to Meeting Places at the Street Level.
Ready Your Street (RYS) Program
The Ready Your Street program prepares a community at its most foundational level. The program ensures that neighbors know one another, make basic plans for what to do in the event of a disaster, and prepare their households for emergencies. It also provides pre- and post-disaster action steps for people to follow.
RYS Steps
Step 1. People who live in proximity to one another organize in units of 20 or fewer households. These may be discrete homes on a street, apartment units on the floor of a building, several apartment buildings on a street, or far-apart homes in a sparsely populated area. What matters is that each organized group, called a Street, consists of a manageable number of households that are located nearest to one another.
Step 2. The RYS Team sends out a volunteer to meet with the residents of the Street at an RYS Party hosted by one neighbor. The goal is to get neighbors in the same room so they can talk and get more acquainted and for the RYS volunteer to explain how the program works. The volunteer gives each household an RYS booklet containing instructions and a Help/OK sign [Insert link to MYN booklet.]
Step 3. The residents select a Street Captain and Co-Captain.
Step 4. The residents of the Street select a meeting place in their area that is most likely to be safe after a disaster. For example, people in an area prone to flooding will choose a meeting place on high ground. Residents of earthquake country will choose a place with few trees on relatively flat ground.
Step 5. The Captain and Co-Captain collect key information from the residents including how many people and animals live in each residence, if any resident has any special needs, where gas shutoffs are located, and whether the residents have any special emergency-related skills or equipment (i.e., first aid training, medical certification, chainsaw). They record this information on the RYS Emergency Contact Sheet and the Skills Inventory.
Step 6. The Captain and Co-Captain create a map of the Street, showing where each household and gas, water, and electricity shutoffs are located and where the meeting place is.
Step 7. The residents choose a Utility Coordinator, a Triage Coordinator, a Communication Coordinator, and a Search and Rescue Coordinator.
Step 8. Residents take personal responsibility for gathering enough food and water for their households for at least 14 days. Adding additional items will enable residents who are financially able to survive more serious disasters as well as provide support to others.
Step 9. Residents attend training classes in Stop the Bleed, First Aid, and CPR/AED if they can.
Step 10. Residents gather together once a year for a followup RYS Party to update the database and to practice emergency response.
Post-Disaster Meetup
After a disaster, neighbors need to check in with one another to determine injuries, damage, and dangers. First, each neighbor posts the RYS OK or HELP sign on their window or door, if they are able. (In an apartment building, this will consist of taping the sign to the exterior of the apartment door.) Neighbors then quickly check on the homes or apartments they pass while heading to the agreed-upon meeting place.
At the meeting place, neighbors share their findings about who needs help or might need help (because they didn’t post any sign). The Neighborhood Captain will then send designated people to do various tasks:
Step 1. The Utility Coordinator and assistants turn off propane and gas.
Step 2. The Search and Rescue Coordinator and assistants check on the neighbors who posted Help signs or didn’t show up at the meeting place.
Step 3. The Captain and Co-Captain complete the Damage Assessment Form for the street. The goal here is to document structural damage, injuries, and resource needs.
Step 4. The Communications Coordinator runs the Damage Assessment Form to the Disaster Hub and gathers any new information available there.
Step 5. The Triage Coordinator and assistants provide immediate first aid as needed for injuries and determine who needs to go to the Disaster Hub for additional help.
Step 5. The Captain and Co-Captain plan for transportation of the seriously injured to the local Disaster Hub.
Step 6. Neighbors take the injured to the local Disaster Hub.