Disaster Updates & Resources: Flood, Fires & Power

For any of our colleagues and friends affected by earthquake, hurricane, flood, wildfire threat and/or power outages, it has been a long several weeks. Please know we send our good energy your way. Below are some updates and information resources which may be helpful now or in the future.

Be Prepared:

Be prepared with a "go bag" if you are living in any alert or watch area. This is a bag with essentials, including backup medicine supplies needed in case of an emergency evacuation. Inform your family or extended family/friends of the location of the "go bag" in case someone needs to grab the bag on your behalf and meet you. Have a plan for communication, rendezvous, and check-in with your family and/or extended family so that you only have to make a few calls to trigger a welfare status check. That saves your mobile phone or computer batteries and you can use people outside the evacuation zone to assist in communications of your status and any needs to family and friends. If you do not have a mobile phone during an evacuation, Red Cross maintains a database called "Safe and Well" that also connects to Facebook (if you choose and use Facebook). You can register with any Red Cross disaster services volunteer or service center.

Welcome Back to Power, San Diego!

We welcome back online our good friends and colleagues in the San Diego region following a massive power outage. Music therapists in that area went "acoustic" yesterday.

Wildfires:

For those of you in, or near, wildfire breakouts in Texas and Washington, keep in mind that it’s critical to be prepared even when a wildfire threat seems at a distance. Air quality, depending on the winds, can deteriorate quickly and that can affect you and/or the clients you serve. Therefore, be careful about engaging vulnerable clients in interventions that could complicate respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. Be sure to make a record of your professional (business) and household assets. Store that record in a secure fire and waterproof location. If you take a digital video of material resources, also take a picture of important papers and insurance information.

Eastern Flooding:

As rivers and streams crest following Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, many areas of the northeast are experiencing severe flooding. We’ve had numerous music therapists check in with AMTA and notify us of minor to significant home (especially basement) or office/clinic flooding. Please feel free to email else@musictherapy.org if you would like to discuss the status of your situation and review your immediate needs. In the event of an emergency, you may call AMTA Disaster Response Coordinator Barb Else directly at 520.245.7717. AMTA wishes to support you in these trying and difficult times and, where possible, assist you in getting back to work and some sense of normalcy as soon as possible. Because of the huge geographic area affected by flooding, we are doing welfare checks as much as we are able, but you can help us help you by contacting Barb Else or AMTA at info@musictherapy.org if you have a specific need or question.

If you’ve experienced any degree of flooding, it is important to control mold and mildew. Information on mold and mildew control is available at the following link from FEMA. See:

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/rebuild/recover/fema_mold_brochure_english.pdf

Working with the World Federation’s Commissioner, Dr. Behrens, and their team on Global Crises, we are preparing a short piece on managing high humidity conditions and water damage for musical instruments. We will post a draft of that document on the AMTA website within the next week.

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