Prince of Wales Launches Free "Ready Together" Toolkit to Help UK Communities Prepare for Emergencies
Built by the National Emergencies Trust with Nottingham Trent University researchers, the online guide helps neighbourhood groups draft their own crisis plans.
Residents' associations, sports clubs and other local groups in the UK now have a free guide for getting ready before disaster strikes. On October 8, the Prince of Wales, patron of the National Emergencies Trust, launched the Ready Together toolkit in Ilminster, Somerset, a town that has faced flooding and wildfires, as reported by Positive News.
What the toolkit offers
Ready Together is an online resource developed by the trust with researchers at Nottingham Trent University. It is aimed at community groups and walks them through eight areas of preparedness, including communications, supplies and supporting vulnerable residents.
- Groups can map local skills and resources already in their area
- They can identify what they might need in a crisis
- The site generates a draft emergency plan that can be shared with others
- Downloadable practical guidance is included
Advice includes keeping non-perishable food and some cash for essentials. Trust chief executive Mhairi Sharp acknowledged that the cash suggestion is a tricky message during a cost-of-living crisis.
Why it matters
Chief executive Sharp described the project as two things: an evidence-based how-to guide and a campaign. Ambassador and actor Ross Kemp said communities are usually the first in and the last out when something goes wrong.
"It was very scary." — Tina Groves, an Ilminster resident whose home flooded nine years ago
Context
Positive News notes that, according to Our World in Data, the global death rate from disasters has fallen by more than 90% over the past century even as population grew fourfold, a sign that preparation and early warning work.
The toolkit is available at readytogether.co.uk. Its effect will depend on how many local groups pick it up and keep their plans current.
