ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2022 - 16

NAIT's CADEM will train students up on the newest best tech in disaster response. Image courtesy of NAIT Disaster and Emergency
Management program.
The tools to effectively respond during disasters are vital, but
they're only one chapter in a three-part story. There's also the
before and after; the preparation and the recovery.
Rebecca Macklon, manager of strategic partnerships and
public education with the Alberta Emergency Management
Agency (AEMA), is working to strengthen that preparation in
the province. Macklon has led the development of the Government
of Alberta's personal preparedness program. Using
various communication channels, the program's aim is to
bring members of the public into disaster mitigation.
" All layers of government have a role to play, but so do individuals, "
Macklon says. " We've got a responsibility to make
sure people understand what they can do to help protect
themselves. "
As part of their efforts to gauge Albertans' emergency readiness,
Macklon's team released a preparedness survey last
year. " Our hope is that we'll have future surveys approved so
we can measure behaviour change over time, and that we
can see if our efforts to help people do more to help themselves
are being effective. "
They've also released an emergency preparedness program
made up of 15 webpages providing the public with information
on how to act on common hazards in Alberta. As well,
printable QR codes are available on their website, which provide
short information videos on preparedness if scanned.
Additionally Macklon says the alerts that arrive in our text
inboxes through the Alberta emergency alerts system are a
great opportunity for Albertans to reflect on their preparedness
at any given time. Even if the alerts themselves are just
tests, the exercise is still a useful means to do this.
" There's an opportunity for us to also use those alerts to test
people's preparedness, to prompt people to think about:
'Okay, so when I got this alert, where was I at the time, and
how prepared would I have been if this alert were real?' "
she says.
" Our hope is that this next test alert is being perceived in a
different way, and that it's helping to strengthen everyone's
personal preparedness, not just strengthen the emergency
management system, " she adds.
On the after side of disasters, Kevin Taron leads the provincial
recovery planning team with the AEMA. After meditating on
events in Alberta like the Fort McMurray wildfire and Calgary
flooding, the government went about expanding recovery capabilities.
A large part of those efforts went into expediating
assistance for those in desperate need.
Taron points to the Disaster Recovery Program, a financial
assistance apparatus for communities affected by disasters,
as something his team have optimized to speed up the restitution
process.
16 | SPRING 2022 | TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA
https://www.alberta.ca/emergency-preparedness.aspx?utm_campaign=may2022_aea_test_alert&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=twitter
ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASET Technology Alberta Spring 2022
