Tomorrow Disaster Preparedness And Community Resilience Workshop

Tomorrow at 6pm, Laurelhurst Community Club's Laurelhurst Earthquake Action Preparedness (LEAP), a grassroots organization started by Laurelhurst residents, is holding a special event "Disaster Preparedness and Community Resilience Workshop" at the Laurelhurst Community Center.

Information sent out by LCC said:

Join LEAP and its partners from the University of Washington's Department of Urban Design and Planning , including Profs. Dan Abramson and Cynthia Chen (also a Laurelhurst resident), PhD student Katherine Idziorek, and other students in Prof. Abramson's advanced planning course on community engagement for resilience, for a fun, hands-on community resilience workshop.  

This unique event will provide an opportunity to learn how neighbors can best respond immediately following an emergency - connect, assist, ask for help. This workshop is meant to encourage connectivity through games and hands-on exercises, explore ways of finding resources and help in the neighborhood, and discuss community-wide network strategies.  

Leave with a better understanding of the importance of community-wide interconnectivity and what steps neighbors can take to improve resiliency. Get to know your neighbors better, learn more about Laurelhurst's unique assets, and compete for preparedness prizes. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

LEAP's mission is to save lives, reduce injuries and strengthen the community’s resilience.
The group is also forming organizing clusters and cluster/block captains, of which over 30%have already signed up. The goal of the captains is to blocks in the neighborhood to be organized in preparation for an earthquake or other catastrophic event, that will help with the neighborhoods' resilience.

LEAP has divided the neighborhood into clusters which roughly align with blocks and consist of about 20 houses each. To find out your cluster information contact lccearthquake@outlook.com.

LEAP Cluster Captains duties include organizing clusters, help with building a family disaster supplies kit and establishing an emergency plan with neighbor, including a designated meeting and distributes LEAP communications to neighbors

A LEAP representative said:

Working together can be fun, getting to know your neighbors better and all. Where to evacuate to if necessary could be important, too. Neighbors help neighbors. The first days or weeks it will be up to all of us to be prepared. The day after a major earthquake is not the time to try to figure out how to survive in Laurelhurst. Once Laurelhurst is organized it will have less effort to maintain.  

LEAP is run by your neighborhood volunteers and we are working towards emergency communications, first responders, setting up triage areas, gathering places, community hubs and so much more. Everyone needs to understand how to organize their own household and where to help and get help when the big one hits.  

Support your neighborhood response team, LEAP. Sign up to be a block captain and/or provide vital information to allow LEAP to better support you and family and pets.  

Your Laurelhurst Community needs you to be prepared and understand how to get help. We want your families to be safe and ready to help others. Let's hope it never happens, but let's all be prepared if it does.

For more information email LCCearthquake@outlook.com.