For the next couple of days, officials from Metro Public Health are knocking on more than 200 doors. They’re asking residents how they prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies.
Metro Public Health probably wouldn’t be doing this survey if it weren’t for the 2010 flood. The department’s Rachel Majors says the flood exposed a critical weakness in the county’s emergency response.
“ So many families in the Middle Tennessee area have never thought to create an evacuation plan for their home. That was obviously very much needed in some of the areas affected by the flood.”
Survey takers will have information on evacuation plans, as well as what to do with pets in an emergency. Majors wants Nashvillians to think about preparing for a disaster as a household responsibility, and not just leave it to the government.
“We think if we just raise awareness, asking ‘okay what will we do as a family, what will we do as a neighborhood,’ we’ll see an increase in the success of manning an emergency.”
Survey organizers will also ask residents questions about how they get disaster information. Emergency officials will use they survey to create better and more targeted disaster warnings. Metro Public Health picked 30 neighborhoods at random to take part in the survey.
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