This summer, we saw it all: tar balls from oil spills, power outages, tsunami advisory warnings and a sewage spill that closed our beaches.

What about the next distaster?

The City of Long Beach is hosting its second annual READY Long Beach Community Preparedness Expo on Saturday from 10:00AM to 5:00PM at Heartwell Park to help prepare residents for the next emergency with expert tips on handling earthquakes, fires, floods and terrorist events.

The Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD) and Long Beach CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) are teaming up to sponsor the event, in collaboration with Southern California Edison (SCE) and other city departments and disaster relief agencies.

“By the time a disaster hits, it’s too late to prepare,” said Mayor Robert Garcia in a statement. “This event will give Long Beach residents critical information they need before an emergency, so they can be ready to help themselves, their families and their neighbors.”

The day-long expo will host a variety of information booths, kid’s fun zone, food sales and display of emergency response vehicles, in addition to an agenda that includes emergency preparedness exhibitions, sales of emergency supplies and a showing of the Disney movie Planes: Fire and Rescue at 6:00PM. A dinner break will take place between 5:00PM and 6:00PM.

Topics that will be discussed include:

  • How to build minimum supplies of food, water and other basic survival tools recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA);
  • How and when to safely shut off gas and water lines;
  • How to build a family evacuation and response plan; and
  • How to engage your neighbors in disaster planning.

“Recent events have once again shown us the importance of being prepared,” said Councilmember Stacy Mungo in a statement. “I hope that as many people as possible take advantage of this wonderful opportunity, and join with neighbors who have already taken the steps they need to be ready for an emergency.”

For more information, visit the READY Long Beach Facebook event page, here

Above, left: photo courtesy of the READY Long Beach Facebook event page. 

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