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For the first time, at the twentieth edition of the San Mateo County Disaster Preparedness Day held this Saturday, August 3, workshops were taught in Spanish and Mandarin. 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 cruisers and the California Highway Patrol ( CHP), the light blue of PG&E cranes, 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 the first time she attended and that both she and her colleagues - half a dozen in total - really liked 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 can come,” explained Chaidez, from San Mateo, while Julián Sánchez, son of one of Evelia's friends, said that he had fun and that he enjoyed it. What he liked the most was the workshop on how to stop bleeding.
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 forest 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 seen 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 exchangeable for a radio, or a bag with a type of food that lasts up to five years, essential to prepare a backpack for emergencies.
Coupons could be obtained by attending workshops, learning more about the work of participating agencies or chatting with exhibitors.
Nancy Díaz, originally from Nayarit, was with her husband from Veracruz and their children, being pleasantly impressed with a huge drone that presented the Mosquito and Other Vector Control District. They explained to him that “it is used when there is an infestation of flies” as he told us. The Díaz family lives in Redwood City and learned about the event through television.
Other exhibitors, such as the Explorers from the Sheriff's Office, were present with the purpose of informing the public about the services they offer, among them, a program that allows young people from the age of 14 the possibility of working temporarily in various functions supporting to 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, those interested 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
