Start a neighborhood disaster watch organization

Many communities have a neighborhood watch to cut down on crime. Why not create one to keep everyone alert on possible disasters in your neighborhood? In the same way a neighborhood watch helps to place other sets of eyes on your home, a neighborhood disaster watch places additional eyes on disaster awareness and advisories in your area.

How do we start a neighborhood watch?

1. First, contact your local emergency response departments in your area, like the police and fire departments. Not all departments have facilitators to help set up a neighborhood watch, but they will have resources available. Even if they do not have an official representative, ask the department if an officer may be able to stop by the meeting. Many times something like this can be arranged in advance.
2. Next, set up a meeting with your neighbors to give out information and see who is interested in participating. This should be a meeting place accessible to all, maybe a school or church in the neighborhood, or even a community center.
3. This is the vital meeting where you explain to others what is involved and expected for participation. You will find that many neighbors will express an interest, especially after they find that it does not require a great deal of time or effort. (For tips on how to hold a meeting, click here.) http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/actionguide/run-a-meeting
4. At the first meeting get as much information as possible as it is harder to get the information later. Nominate a captain and co-captain, hand out a form for residents to submit information for the community phone tree and map. Find out if residents are interested in meetings every few months, conduct general meetings about disasters like fire safety or if they want to stick with one annual meeting per year.
5. Once the first meeting is over and the information is gathered, the captain and co-captains can compile the phone tree and maps. These will then be given to every participant in the neighborhood. And that was the major bulk of the work.
6. Now it is up to residents to keep information up to date and work with their neighbors on community projects or socials. That's it!

What does a neighborhood watch involve?

MEETINGS The last thing anyone wants is more meetings to attend! With a neighborhood watch there are really only two major meetings that need to be done.

The First Meeting

• Who’s interested
• Everyone will learn what’s involved and what’s expected
• Setting up a map, phone tree and election of captains.
• Distribution of emergency response materials including detail of what kinds of disasters are common in your area and what to do in a disaster.
• Visit our natural disaster and disaster preparedness pages for resources. Your police department can help you find materials or you may also consult with your local American Red Cross for advice.

• After a watch is in place, there should be at least one neighborhood social per year. This may be a BBQ, Community Garage Sale, Neighborhood Picnic, or some other type of family friendly, all-inclusive gathering.
• At these social events, captains and co-captains may easily give quick highlights and goals for the year. This could be done as a speech or flyers handed out at the event.
• This would also be a good time to check and see of any changes in information for the watch - such as a change in phone number, etc.
• After a quick recap of watch business the rest of the social is a community building experience. It is a chance for neighbors to get to know one another and put faces with names. It should be fun - not tedious!
• Consider having your annual social during September, the National Preparedness Month. This is a nationwide effort held each September to encourage Americans to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools.

• Captains and co-captains are those who help organize records and keep track of the disasters in the neighborhood.
• Captains are the contact point for people to notify of changes such as phone numbers or new residents.
• Captains organize a welcome for any new residents welcoming them and informing them about the neighborhood watch to see if they would like to participate.
• Most importantly, captains are informed of any disasters and emergencies in the area. It is assumed the effected party would have notified the police. However, the captain can also track events and report it to their contact with the police department.
• Keep in mind the police may not have a database that would track minor emergencies, thus a neighborhood watch can help collect this useful information.
• Many neighborhoods will assign more than one co-captain to help share responsibility. One example is to have a captain designated as the main police contact and then multiple co-captains for each block or zone for neighbors to report to.

• A phone tree is the easiest and fastest way to help notify the neighborhood of important events.
• Like other phone trees, each person only calls a few people and then the next group calls the next so no one person is calling everyone.
• After a disaster has happened a phone tree may be used to help notify the neighborhood a certain type of disaster at a specific location occurred.
• Today, some may opt for an email instead of a phone call. However, make sure to somehow include all that want to be involved. Some residents may not want to use email and still need a mini phone tree.

• This is not the quickest way of giving out information but it is effective.
• Either pamphlets or emailed letters will help give the neighborhood updates of what has been going on the last couple of months.
• Unless there are major concerns, newsletters may be quarterly or every couple of months. Many times these newsletters can also inform residents of local events or holiday related safety and laws; for example, safety tips and local laws for the use of fireworks on the 4th of July.
• If working with a police department representative they may already have a newsletter available to which you may tack on neighborhood info before distributing. Newsletters are not required for a watch, but some do find them useful.

• The map is an extremely useful tool for the neighborhood watch. A standard map will show the streets involved in the watch, the homes, names of residents, phone numbers, emergency in-state and out-of-state contact numbers and email.
• This information is always voluntary. However, many residents will find the extra security worth it. Most of us will not know an address of our neighbors, instead we know 'it is three doors down' or 'just around the block'. This map will help get the exact address if the need arises to notify the police and neighbor of a problem.
• This map may be used in a number of ways. This can be used by a neighbor who sees smoke from a house, a neighbor can tell the fire department the exact address and notify the resident if they are not at home.
• Or it might be used with the phone tree to raise the alarm in a neighborhood. For example, if a resident sees a creek or river overflowing its banks. He or she can call the fire department and neighbors near the water source to advise them that their houses are in danger of being flooded.
• You may also want to include information on disaster prone areas in your community. For example, areas near rivers and creeks are more susceptible to floods, and areas near or on hills are more susceptible to land and mudslides. Consult with your local emergency response departments when compiling this information

Source:
This information was adapted from Neighborhood Crime watch programs like Homecheck.com.

Find more awesome ways to get involved with action guides, volunteer opportunities, and causes at DoSomething.org