•  PERSONAL PREPAREDNESS
• Review of handout on useful websites
• Emergency kits for home, work and car (Gopi showed her car emergency kit).
• vendors of food, water, and other supplies, govt agencies.
• Having a plug in phone only at home (in case electricity goes out, can’t use most home phones these days due to dependence on electricity).

•  HOW TO INCREASE INVOLVMENT OF SATSANG MEMBERS
• Sending regular emails to LA Satsang (with current contact info), which is separate than weekly email.
• Having a “tip of the week (or month), focusing on different areas of emergency & disaster preparation.
• Announcement and demo/sampling of emergency kit, etc at Community Satsang 2-16-08.
• HAVE NEXT DISASTER MEETING AT BHAGAVATI’S HOUSE ON 3-1-08 SATSANG (AFTER 1000 NAMES AND BEFORE SATSANG STARTS).  WILL BRING INFO ON EMERGENCY KITS, NEXT CERT TRAINING, AND DEMO OF HOW TO USE A RESPIRATOR (GOPI VOLUNTEERED).
• WILL HAVE A HANDOUT WITH RESOURCES, WEBSITES, AND EMERGENCY KIT ITEMS FOR ATTENDEES.
• Having a raffle for winning a respirator/mask or emergency kit if a person does something towards preparation: like contributing info on a related website or bringing a new person or getting trained in a related field.
• Having a sign up sheet for volunteers at the Community Satsang at the welcome table.
• Having a video with a disaster scenario at the community satsang and/or next disaster meeting – to increase awareness and  involvement from among the group. (Tejasri will contact fire dept for video, info) 

• HOW WE CAN BE PART OF EXISTING THE COMMUNITY NETWORK, RESOURCES FOR PLANNING & RESPONDING.
• HAVING LIST OF NEIGHBORHOOD FIRE DEPTS, POLICE STATIONS, BLOCK CAPTAINS (FOR AREAS THAT HAVE THIS).
• HAVING A PHONE NUMBER OF 1-2 OUT OF STATE CONTACTS (PREFERABLY WHO KNOW OUR DISASTER PLAN, COULD BE OTHER SATSANG CONTACTS).
• DIVIDNG UP LA AND SURROUNDING AREA INTO QUADRANTS OR SIXTHS AND HAVING AN LA SATSANG MEMBER AS A POINT PERSON IN EACH AREA – EVENTUALLY FORMING A TEAM IN EACH AREA FOR RESPONDING TO DISASTERS.
• MEMBERS CAN ALSO GET TRAINED AS WITH CERT AND NETWORK WITH LOCAL FIRE DEPT BATALLION.

• HOW TO EFFECTIVELY REPOND DURING A DISASTER:
• IDEA 1: DURING A DISASTER, SATSANG MEMBERS IN EACH AREA CAN CONTACT 1-2 PEOPLE OUT OF STATE (AS LONG DISTANCE PHONE LINES TYPICALLY ARE RESTORED FASTER THAN OTHER PHONE SERVICE).
• OUT OF STATE CONTACTS WOULD HAVE TO KNOW OUR DISASTER PLAN.
• IDEA 2: TEAM CAPTAINS CAN COMMUNICATE W/EACH OTHER TO COORINATE HOW TO HELP AN AREA HIT BY A DISASTER.  WE CAN THEN BRING SUPPLIES, FOOD, WATER, ETC.  THIS WOULD WORK AS LONG AS COMMUNICATION WAS AVAILABLE.  IDEA OF HELPING EACH OTHER LIKE “CIRCLE OF LOVE” PROGRAM. 

• CREATING AVAILABLE RESOURCES FOR SASTANG MEMBERS ONLINE AT LA SATSANG WEBSITE:
• EMERGENCY KIT – POST A LIST OF WHAT THE KIT SHOULD CONTAIN.  WOULD HELP TO HAVE PICS OF SUPPLIES TOO.
• LIST OF PLACES TO PURCHASE KITS, SUPPLIES: SUCH AS SOS, ARMY SUPPLY STORES, ONLINE SOURCES (ON HANDOUT PASSED OUT AT 2-7-08 MTG).
• ARTICLE ON WHY/HOW TO BE INVOLVED – BHAVESH.
• HAVE LINKS TO OTHER RELATED WEBSITES FOR MORE INFO.

Learn More:

Emergency Sample Kits

Resources