Following an emergency, the most immediate help will likely come from those around you: the people you live with and your neighbours. Increase your personal preparedness by connecting with your neighbours and determining how you can work together in an emergency.
Tips for neighbourhood preparedness
Create a home emergency plan
It’s important to have a plan to keep yourself, the people you live with and your home safe before responding to your neighbours needs. Visit our Create an Emergency Plan page for tips and links to PreparedBC planners (fill-in-the-blanks PDF and online versions available).
Meet your neighbours
Reach out to your neighbours and invite them to learn about preparedness. If you have a network in place with scheduled meetings, (e.g., Block Watch group, resident’s association, strata council) start there. A neighbourhood barbeque or potluck is also a great way to bring neighbours together.
Topics to cover at your meeting could include:
- Hazards. Learn about the hazards on the North Shore.
- Personal preparedness. Encourage your neighbours to create a home emergency plan.
- Unique needs. Identify anyone who may need extra assistance, including people with small children or pets, older adults, people with disabilities or people who speak English as an additional language.
- Skills and resources. Discuss what skills or resources may be useful in an emergency and what you and your neighbours may be able to offer to others. Examples include, who has first-aid, cooking or construction skills? Who has a barbecue, generator or chainsaw?
Know where to get information
During an emergency, it is important to use credible sources of information so you can make good decisions. Start local with North Shore Emergency Management’s:
- Real-Time Emergency Updates page
- Social media, including X, Facebook and Instagram (@NorthShoreEMO)
- Alertable emergency notifications
- EmergencyInfoBC for province-wide alerts and bulletins.
- DriveBC for current road and highway conditions.
- Environment Canada for weather alerts and summaries.
- BC Wildfire Service for information on fire prohibitions, restrictions and the current wildfire situation.
Gather your emergency supplies
In an emergency or disaster, roads may be closed, and emergency services stretched beyond capacity. It will be important to be self-sustaining for at least 72 hours. Encourage everyone in your neighbourhood to gather supplies for their emergency kit and grab-and-go bag.
Assign roles and responsibilities
Ask your neighbours to volunteer for specific roles to create a coordinated emergency response. Record this information–roles and contact information–for quick access. Roles could include:
- Checking on others, giving priority to those who need extra support.
- Checking utilities and other potential hazards (e.g., fallen trees, power lines, sink holes).
- Gathering information from credible sources and sharing with your neighbours.
- Fixing and cleaning up (e.g., securing properties, boarding up windows, removing debris).
Refer to pages 7 – 9 of PreparedBC’s Neighbourhood Preparedness Guide for more information on roles, including a sample roles and responsibilities contact list.
Identify emergency meeting places
Talk to your neighbours and identify a safe place where you can meet after an emergency to evaluate the situation and follow through with assigned roles. Plan to have a couple of meeting places: one nearby, such as mailbox on your street, and a second further away, such as a nearby park.
Map your neighbourhood
Create a map of your neighbourhood and include:
- An outline of your neighbourhood with the addresses of participating neighbours and their assigned emergency roles.
- Your emergency meeting places.
- Neighbours that may require extra assistance.
- The location of shared resources or other items identified in your planning.
Maintain and update your neighbourhood plan
Once you’ve completed your neighbourhood emergency plan:
- Keep a physical copy of your plan with your emergency kit.
- Make digital copies of the plan in case you lose your physical copy.
- Ensure everyone in your neighbourhood has a copy of the information.
- Regularly review contact information to ensure it is up to date.
- Organize a neighbourhood get-together to review and update the plan.
Take a closer look
Download PreparedBC’s In It Together: Neighbourhood Preparedness Guide for a copy of much of the information shared on this page.
