Emergency Preparedness Resources

Next month sees the official start of summer, so attention has been turning to what the next season may hold, particularly when it comes to weather.  The Met Office’s three-month outlook, published on 1 May, forecasts that the months of May, June and July have a 35% chance of being hot, 1.8 times the normal likelihood.

The VCSE Emergencies Partnership (EP) are working to raise awareness of how organisations can be prepared.

Resources include a Heatwave Scenario Event Plan that partners can use within their own organisations to increase their heatwave preparedness. The plan, with suggested agenda and timings, describes a scenario, with examples specific to regions, and asks questions about the potential response. There are also links to suggested resources that may help to increase capability.

British Red Cross have also published a Strategic Insight and Foresight Briefing looking at summer risks, along with other resources on heatwaves, wildfires and droughts – with advice translated into Bengali, French, Gujarati, Portuguese, Romanian, Tamil, Ukrainian and Urdu.

The UK Health Security Agency published a new Adverse Weather and Health Plan, combining the previous Heatwave Plan and Cold Weather Plan for England. The plan, developed by scientists and public health experts, brings together and improves existing guidance on weather and health.

If you would like to find out more about preparedness for that and the impact of adverse weather on the health of communities, the Emergencies Partnership are holding a Network Call on Thursday 8th June.

For more information, contact Head of Partnerships, Jon Vangorph at [email protected]