Most people enjoy talking about an emergency plan as much as going to the dentist. Which is a little confusing considering going to the dentist involves pain and discomfort whereas making an emergency plan decreases pain and discomfort! The only people who appreciate emergency plans seem to be the ones who didn't have one when it was needed. Those people seem to REALLY appreciate emergency plans and spend a lot of time telling everyone how worthwhile they are. Funny that.

In families, it seems that only one person takes it seriously and nobody else is the slightest bit interested or they are embarrassed to talk about it. Quite frankly, emergency plans are not like bodily functions. There is no reason to get embarrassed about talking about it - so we have come up with a easy way for you to create an informal discussion at the supper table; disaster dishes!

We picked April for this because April is when we change the clocks for daylight savings time and check the batteries in your smoke detector. If you like Chinese food, you can make the time change more complete by having a "disaster meal". All you have to do is order in some Chinese food! But, you have to add one more thing - the family discussion. To help with this, each dish has a specific purpose or lesson that will help you with a disaster. There are nine dishes here which means you may have to order smaller portions, skip a couple of dishes, or use the leftovers to see how much people remember! Print off the numbered items below, cut each out each topic and give them at random around the table to everyone enjoying the meal. Everyone reads their items in order, even if the dish has been omitted.

Dishes to order:

Rice

Wonton Soup

Spring Rolls

Szechuan (spicy hot dish)

Chicken dish of some sort

Beef and Greens

Your personal favourite dish.

Fish dish

Any dish with vegetables with Cauliflower

Chopsticks / Forks

 

Okay, once you've clipped the items below, the food is here and everyone is at the table you can serve it up and make your disaster plan. You simply read off the following items, in order, and your family disaster plan creates itself! The language is at a level for the kids to understand, but adults may need to help explain anything they don't catch onto. Here goes:

1. These disaster dishes represent our family emergency plan. The first item is the chopsticks. Having chopsticks, a first aid kit, a fire extinguisher, or a family emergency plan won't work unless you know how to use them. To use something even as simple as chopsticks, you need TRAINING and PRACTICE. For a first aid kit, a first aid course means you will know how to use it. For an emergency plan, practicing it once or twice a year will make it as routine as using chopsticks and easy to remember when things go wrong.

2. Spring rolls represent SPRING daylight savings time in April. Daylight savings time mean savings lives by changing the batteries in our smoke detectors, practicing the family emergency plan and springing into action when an emergency occurs. If you don't practice at least once a year, you will forget what you are to do or will be surprised when things have changed that affect your plan.

3. Wonton Soup represents WATER. During a disaster, water is even more important than food. People know to have a bit of water during emergencies, but usually leave it too late when the water is already gone. Water supplies can be affected by more than earthquakes - power failures stop the pumps and filters, haz-mat leaks into the water supply mean it may not be safe to drink. You can go days or weeks without food but only three days without water. For every person in the family, there should be one large bottle of water. Who will get the water this week or replace the water we got last time we did this?

4. The chicken dish represents meat - and that means a MEATING place. You need two meeting places - one near home for everyone to get to, but one far away in case the entire block or neighborhood have been shut down. A neighbor is a good place nearby, but we must also have a place which is far away that we will all remember to go to in case things go wrong. Where should we all go?

5. The vegetable dish should have cauliflower which means CALLING. The biggest problem during most disasters is worry - worry about where people are, worry about what to do. If you know everyone is safe and you know what to do, you don't worry as much. Most people are surprised that the phones don't work for hours or days after a disaster. Everyone needs to phone the same person once a day until we know we are all safe and all together again. This phone number should be out of the province because local numbers are often affected by the disaster as well. What number do we call if we get separated?

6. Rice represents INSURANCE. Rice and insurance are both easy to forget when dealing with the rest of the meal, but you sure notice it when you don't have it. Insurance costs money and may seem like a lot, but we have car insurance so we don't have to worry about getting into a car crash. Our home is even more important than a car. If we can afford lots of movies and toys and treats, we probably should have insurance.

7. The chicken dish also represents FEAR. We are too chicken to get out of a building when we smell smoke because we are afraid to look like a scaredy-cat. Yet, if there is smoke, you only have minutes or even seconds to get yourself safe. We are afraid to be the first to leave a building when we hear the fire alarm or afraid to talk about our emergency plan - yet both will save our lives and make us worry less if we do them before everyone else. Don't be afraid to be the first to be safe.

8. The spicy dish represents FIRE. Fire is one of the biggest threats to your home and your family. Smoke detectors and fire alarms warn you to get outside fast. There is no time to lose. If it is a false alarm, you have had a good practice. If it is a real fire, your quick action just saved your life. In a tall building, try to go down below the fire as both the smoke and the fire will be moving up. If you get burned, put the fire out and put cold water on for ten minutes. If you get out safe, remember the cauliflower lesson; call the out-of-province number in case anyone is worrying about you and can't reach you. Call once a day (or more) until everyone is safe.

9. The spicy dish also represents HAZ-MAT for people who don't like spicy dishes. Haz-mat means hazardous materials, which includes anything such as chemicals that can burn us or poison us. Like fire, the best thing to do is get far away as fast as possible. If it still burns or you don't feel well, go to a hospital or dial 911 for an ambulance. After fire, haz-mat accidents in the home or in the community are the most likely to affect us.

10. The fish dish represents FLOODING. Flooding can be very fast or very slow to develop. If you experience flooding, get away from the water and on as high ground as possible. Flooding can sweep cars away or even houses with just a few inches of water. Flooding often ruins the water which means your water supply is going to reduce suffering or save your life!

11. Your favourite dish represents your AREA's FAVOURITE DISASTER. There is no use spending money or practicing for volcanoes when you don't live near a volcano, or for tornados in a place that never gets tornados. The question for this dish is "What disasters are most common here and what do we do if one occurs?"

12. The beef and greens dish represents COMPLAINING AND ENVY. When a disaster occurs, everyone complains they don't know what to do and is green with envy because someone was smart enough to have lots of water rather than lots of food. If you have a family disaster plan with water and insurance, you will have little to beef about and everyone will be green with envy because you have the water.

13. The people at this disaster dinner are what are MOST IMPORTANT. We have had this discussion to ensure that we all know that we are prepared, we have water, and we all know where to call and where to meet if things go wrong. If we get scared and run away from smoke or call the out of province number when we don't need to, we don't laugh at each other but say "What good practice!" because no matter how much we joke about someone doing something wrong, we all would rather be wrong and safe than to have someone hurt or lost. We would all like to be here together for the next disaster dinner!

And that is it! You've enjoyed a good meal, a very important discussion and everyone knows what the family emergency plan is! If you enjoy Chinese food, it's not a bad idea to have this discussion at the fall time change as well. Twice a year is all you need. If people are getting bored, simply take a clipping from the newspaper about one of the ever-occurring disasters and discuss if your family emergency plan would have covered what happened. It makes for good discussion, keeps the plan fresh and means everyone knows what to do in a wide range of emergencies.

 

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