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For the first time, workshops were held in Spanish and Mandarin at the 20th San Mateo County Disaster Preparedness Day held this Saturday, August 3. It was a colorful gathering that began at 11 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m., with the bright red, yellow, and white of fire trucks, the blue lights of police and CHP cruisers, the light blue of PG&E tow trucks, and the camouflage or black colors of rescue and paramedic vehicles.
Through this annual event, approximately sixty county agencies seek to prepare the community to face, survive and recover from emergencies caused by, among other things, fires, earthquakes and floods.
People are also educated on how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), how to stop bleeding, and how to prepare pets for disasters.
Among the hundreds of people who arrived at the San Mateo County Events Center on Saratoga Street, the Latino presence was modest; it was noticeable that the most interested were the neighbors of Asian origin.
However, since the event was publicized in mass media, there were Hispanic people who attended. Such is the case of Evelia Chaidez.
“We came because we want to learn,” the Mexican told Peninsula 360 Press. “There are so many agencies that are working for all of us, (providing us help) for free, and we don’t know it.”
Evelia explained that she is part of a team of community workers, that this was her first time attending and that both she and her colleagues - about half a dozen in total - really enjoyed the event.
“We got on the trucks and learned how they respond when there is an emergency call, what equipment they use, how they communicate. We also came to spread the word about this event, so that next year more Latinos come,” explained Chaidez, from San Mateo, while Julian Sanchez, son of one of Evelia’s friends, said that he had fun and that what he liked most was the workshop on how to stop a hemorrhage.
Redwood City’s emergency management director, Dr. Shruti Dhapodkar, told The Pulse that San Mateo County “is a Disneyland of disasters,” because because of its size and geographic location, “we have everything from wildfires and land fires to earthquakes and floods.”
There were workshops for children in three languages: Spanish, Mandarin and English, some of them were “Stories with a Firefighter” or “Get Ready with Pedro”. Pedro is a penguin created by the American Red Cross, his mission is to inform children about emergency preparedness.
Pedro's videos in Spanish can be viewed by clicking here.
The organizers were generous with the public; in addition to being able to enjoy hot dogs and free soda, a kind of “treasure hunt” was carried out, which consisted of accumulating coupons that could be exchanged for a radio, or a bag with a type of food that lasts up to five years, essential for preparing a backpack for emergencies.
Vouchers could be obtained by attending workshops, learning more about the work of participating agencies or talking to exhibitors.
Nancy Diaz, originally from Nayarit, was with her husband from Veracruz and their children, and was pleasantly impressed with a huge drone presented by the Mosquito and Other Vector Control District. They explained to her that “it is used when there is a mosquito infestation,” she told us. The Diaz family lives in Redwood City and learned about the event on television.
Other exhibitors, such as the Sheriff's Office Explorers, were present to inform the public about the services they offer, including a program that allows young people as young as 14 years old the opportunity to work temporarily in various roles supporting search and rescue units or other police divisions.
Incidentally, one of the biggest attractions was a horse and rider from the Sheriff's Office Mounted Search and Rescue Group, who rode through the event at a leisurely pace. And in the case of the horse, he was allowed to be petted by the attendees. This division works in remote areas of the county that are not accessible by motorized vehicles.
To learn more about disaster preparedness, interested parties can visit the site smcgov.org/dem.
You may be interested in: Greater citizen participation: the key to ensuring that the needs of Redwood City residents are heard
