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WHY HERE ???

Most of us live in Augusta Township because we have elected to withdraw from the hustle and bustle of high density "city life". Surely all this disaster talk is something that belongs in the city ? Most of us should remember the 1998 Ice Storm that threw our daily lives into chaos ? In August of 2004 there were widespread electric power failures .. brownouts .. blackouts . In the latter situation nothing actually happened in our municipality ..but.. we felt the repercussions in our daily lives.

What are your memories of these events ? Were they happy times , an interesting event , a change of pace ..or.. were they periods of frustration , anger and annoyance ? If the latter was the case it may have been because you had never thought about how you would manage yourself in an emergency , or , you had little or no understanding of what the authorities were attempting to accomplish. We as a community have to give some thought as to how we will prepare to cope when misfortune comes our way. It is a job for ALL of us it is not something that should be left with ... the government.

The Great Ice Storm of 1998 and the Twin Towers Disaster of New York City taught municipalities , big and small , that they were ill prepared to cope with large scale disruptions to their daily affairs.

WHY US ???

Emergency Management has always been the responsibility of municipal government. Under the Emergency Planning Act plans , to no specific standard , were required , but , once completed they sat idle on storeroom shelves and became obsolete. Under the current Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act each municipality is required to have an ongoing Emergency Management Program .

The Provincial Government sets standards but the plan content is to reflect the local knowledge of Municipal Government. The planning process being used by your municipality is used all over North America by all levels of government.