SAFELY OUT Project on IAQ radio

Attention Restoration Industry enthusiasts!  Listen in tomorrow, Friday, September 23 from 9 – 10am PST on Indoor Air Quality radio to hear Gary Dietrich, president of Citizen Voice, and Paul Jacks, a SAFELY OUT™ Project consultant and the former Deputy Director for the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services in California, as they discuss all of the exciting things happening with the SAFELY OUT™ Project.  You can listen live at www.iaqradio.com or download the podcast later.

Check Out a Video of the Largest SAFELY OUT™ Kit Production

Production began this week at PRIDE Industries on the largest SAFELY OUT™ Kit order since the beginning of the project. With 40,000 Kits being assembled, by the vulnerable themselves for the vulnerable, it is truly something to be excited about. Check out the video below to see Citizen Voice founder, Gary Dietrich, and SAFELY OUT™ Project Consultant, Charles Cassani, at PRIDE talking about the assembly of the Kits and why this project is such a great example of public and private partnership.

SAFELY OUT(TM) Statewide Launch and The Great CA ShakeOut

On Thursday, October 21 @ 10:21am Citizen Voice’s SAFELY OUT Project formally launched it’s statewide expansion and participated in the Great CA ShakeOut.  It was a great event that showed nonprofit, private & public partnerships with the Red Cross, California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) & PRIDE Industries all involved in the DROP, COVER & HOLD drill.  SAFELY OUT just received a grant from CalEMA which will provide 20,000 Kits to the vulnerable statewide.   In the video, you can see the employees at PRIDE Industries performing the DROP, COVER & HOLD drill.  It was a great reminder how we all need to be prepared for any kind of disaster, either man-made or natural.

 

 

The Chilean Earthquake Offers Lessons for California

An Important Message from Jerry Colivas, Citizen Voice’s SAFELY OUT™ Advisory Team Leader

A recent Sacramento Bee article said the Chilean earthquake offers lessons for California.  Much of this article discusses how building codes and construction standards provided Chile a defense against massive loss of life and the destruction of homes and buildings that occurred in Haiti.  The article asks the question, would California fare as well as Chile did?

A point in the article that I want to focus on is preparedness.  In Chile, people were not prepared for this catastrophic event — in fact over a million Chileans were not prepared.  It is estimated that half of us Californians are not prepared either.

That means that literally millions of people not prepared.  We must prepare now for our most likely catastrophe – an earthquake, a major flood, a hurricane, and more. Have a family disaster plan and during disaster events, pay close attention to alerts and messages.  Have a portable radio with batteries and/or a hand crank; and ensure that you have food and water to sustain you and each person in your home for at least 72 hours.  Be prepared to leave your home safely, and if possible have alternate housing outside the disaster area.

And most importantly, have a SAFELY OUT™ Kit – and take the time now to fill out the “helper” information and other vital information on the cards and refrigerator magnet provided in the Kit.  Share the kit with your family and with your neighbors and encourage them to get their own at www.CitizenVoice.org.

A little lesson on El Niño

(The following personal account comes from Jerry Colivas, CV’s SAFELY OUT™ Advisory Team Leader.)

The El Niño conditions the weather folks have been talking about will be bringing us a little more rain this week.  Not too much to worry about but there is definitely a wet pattern – some would call it conditions for a Pineapple Express.  The definition for Pineapple Express is: a system is driven by a strong, southern branch of the Polar jetstream and is usually marked by the presence of a surface frontal boundary which is typically either slow or stationary, with waves of low pressure traveling along its axis. Each of these low pressure systems brings enhanced rainfall.  Or as I would say, we get warmer rain from the Hawaiian Islands rather than colder rain from Alaska.  Warmer rain has more moisture and also brings down the snow levels.  These facts conspire to make conditions ripe for flooding.  While we have been okay so far, there have been years when flooding occurred in February and in March.  The last time was 1995.  Get your family disaster plan out and review. If you dont have a SAFELY OUT™ Kit, make sure you get one at SAFELYOUT.org.