West Virginians fall short of national goals, as well as other states, in being prepared for disasters according to a study conducted by West Virginia University Homeland Security researchers.

“The National Preparedness Guidelines calls for 80 percent of all households in the nation to maintain pre-disaster preparation,” said Dr. Christine Weigandt, principle investigator with WVU Homeland Security Programs.

“The 2009 Citizens Corps national survey on citizen preparedness, showed that only 57 percent of Americans had supplies set aside in their homes to be used in case of a disaster,” she said. “But, our survey showed that in our sample of West Virginia, only 48 percent surveyed had taken similar steps.”

In addition, of those West Virginians who reported that they had disaster supplies set aside in their homes, only 63 percent had a supply of water. The 2009 Citizen Corps results showed that nationally, 71 percent had a supply of water, putting West Virginia 8 percentage points below the national results.

The study, the first ever conducted to assess West Virginia citizen preparedness, was performed by Homeland Security Programs at WVU along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. It assessed the preparedness, behaviors, barriers and perceptions of West Virginians in connection with disaster preparedness.

Summer Debastiani, graduate from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and collaborative partner of WVU Homeland Security Programs said that since the attacks of 9/11, the anthrax scares that followed, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other events, the federal government has emphasized national preparedness as a homeland security priority. Citizens are now expected to be able to survive, without the aid of first responders, for the first 72 hours of a disaster.

The good news was that of the West Virginians surveyed who said they had supplies set aside, 79 percent reported having a supply of food, exceeding the Citizen Corps national results of 74 percent. The National Preparedness Guidelines call for 80 percent to have food set aside. In addition, of those 79 percent with food on hand, 15 percent listed canning as their method of storing food for disaster supply – an activity associated by experts with good preparedness.

Finally, only 33 percent of the West Virginians surveyed indicated they had prepared a household communication plan in case of disaster compared to the Citizen Corps national results of 44 percent.

“Of the people who said they had not prepared a plan, 62 percent said they would do so if they had some kind of a short form to help them,” said LaRue Williams, director of WVU Homeland Security Programs. “We asked how they would like to receive that form; 47 percent said they wanted to receive something in the mail and 19 percent said they would like it printed in the local newspaper.

“That’s a disconnect because currently, the primary method used to distribute preparedness information across the US is through websites like ready.gov and redcross.org.”

Williams said one clear message from the survey is that organizations in West Virginia need to expand the way they distribute preparedness information.

The telephone survey was conducted by the Office of Homeland Security Programs at WVU during July and August. A full report of the study will be submitted to the West Vriginia Department of Homeland Security. WVU officials hope to develop a citizen’s preparedness communication campaign focusing on the design, dissemination and evaluation of a practical method to enable West Virginians to formulate a prep-prepared household family emergency communication plan.

-WVU-

gg/10/19/10

Contact: Bryan Martin
304-293-3028, Bryan.Martin@mail.wvu.edu

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