True to the Boy Scout motto of “be prepared,” Santa Marians will get a chance to attend an Emergency Preparedness Fair on Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, at 1219 Oak Knoll Road, Orcutt. Local Varsity Boy Scout Chris Peterson’s Eagle Project will bring together several organizations and agencies, including Santa Barbara County Fire and Sheriff, The Gas Company, Santa Maria Police, and others.
This past July, after the Chino Hills earthquake, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stated, “This earthquake reminds us to be prepared. We were very fortunate that there were no serious injuries or property damage.” That was when Peterson, a 15-year-old sophomore at Righetti High School, started putting together a list of natural disasters and came up with the idea for the fair.
“We’ve had a lot of disasters recently, like the fires,” he said. “I saw that there were a lot of risks, and that people are not aware of what could happen. Some families don’t know what to do if a disaster does happen.”
Chris’ mom, Sandy added, “In the last year, California has had numerous natural disasters, as well as tough economic times. Fires, floods, earthquakes, power outages, and loss of employment all cause stress on individuals and families who are not prepared.”
The main focus of the fair is to help better prepare the community for any disasters, natural or otherwise.
“[There are] situations like fires, floods, earthquakes, a Diablo Canyon emergency, or even the financial impact of Santa Maria being cut off due to Highway 101 being down,” Chris said. “We want people to be better prepared in general, things like food storage and how long you should be prepared to wait. People should be prepared to be on their own for at least three days, and in some cases it could be longer.”
Chris, who’s been involved in Scouting for the last eight years, has spent the last four months preparing his Eagle Scout project.
“We’ve had numerous meetings, made calls to lots of agencies, and have 5,000 fliers going out to students at area schools,” he said.
As for what people can expect at the fair, there will be representatives from ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and the Boy Scouts, in addition to information booths about Dutch oven cooking, an MRE sample table, vacuum sealing, safe fuel storage, water storage and filtration, and grab-and-go kits (pre-packed bags with all the necessaries and three days of food). In all, Chris plans on having 27 booths at the fair.
Intern Nicholas Walter compiled this week’s Community Corner. Items for consideration should be e-mailed to mail@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 9-16, 2008.