Better safe than sorry was the message yesterday morning as the city kicked off Emergency Preparedness Week at Churchill Square.
National Emergency Preparedness Week, which takes place during the first week in May, was created to teach Edmontonians how to be prepared in the event of a major crisis.
“We all need to be prepared for circumstances that come about, whether it’s a fire in your house or a disaster in the city,” Mayor Stephen Mandel said. “Because if we are not prepared for things, that is when we really have problems.”
Mandel declared May 2-8 to be Emergency Preparedness Week in Edmonton.
“We all know that recently in the Gulf (of Mexico) we have seen an amazingly catastrophic event with the oil spill and how that can impact the world,” Mandel said. “One of the challenges is that I don’t think people were prepared.”
Emergency Preparedness Week will end with the Get Ready in the Park event at Hawrelak Park on Saturday. There will be more than 25 exhibitors performing demonstrations, playing games and giving away free items.
“In a massive emergency, the first thing that happens is to run out of supplies,” said Dr. Raj Sherman, MLA and former flight surgeon for STARS.
“So I encourage everybody to get involved, educate themselves … and know what they can do to help their community in the event that we are faced with a disaster.”
