If a disaster strikes where will those most immediately affected go? That is a question Newton County's Local Emergency Preparedness Committee is working to answer.
If dwellings suddenly become uninhabitable due to a storm or other causes their residents will need shelter and food for a time until they can make other temporary arrangements through their families or other resources.
It's a question the committee has been struggling with since a tornado struck the Parthenon community in spring 2017. Fortunately there were no injuries. The post office was destroyed and the church across the street was heavily damaged.
Had there been a greater loss of property such as homes, where would the people who lived in them go?
LEPC meetings were on hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic and began meeting again in April. At it's most recent meeting held Monday, May 24, the membership reorganized with Byron Mann accepting the chair. He is a volunteer with the Arkansas United Methodist Church Disaster Response Mission.
Mann cited the rewards of having local volunteers trained to respond to disasters and said basic training is available though the church's Volunteers in Mission program. He said an hour-long audio/visual program can be presented to interested groups in the county.
One immediate need is an inventory of possible disaster shelters throughout the county. Since the Parthenon tornado, churches have been the focus of providing limited shelters in their communities.
Mann said the American Red Cross with resources as close as Harrison could provide cots and generators to shelters.
He suggested getting fire chiefs from the many volunteer fire departments to attend a conference on the need of disaster preparedness in the near future.
Jasper Volunteer Fire Department Chief Pam Emerson said she would initiate contact at the next county-wide fire association meeting.
Mann noted that it is important for emergency response organizations to work directly with the county Office of Emergency Management and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) to ensure they will be financially compensated for all expenditures used in addressing the emergency. If they take it upon themselves to secure equipment or other assets they will be responsible for paying the bill, not the state agency.
Mann also emphasized the need for the county judge and county sheriff to be involved in emergency preparedness efforts and developing a county-wide response plan.
Erika Houston, manager of the Newton County Health Unit gave an update on COVID-19 vaccinations in the county. The health unit has dispensed 1,450 shots. The unit is scheduling vaccine appointments on Fridays. Though the office is trying not to waste doses, some are being lost because people are not keeping their appointments.
Jasper Mayr Jan Larson complained that the emergency siren is still not being tested weekly by the sheriff's office. It is supposed to sound each Wednesday between 11;45 am. And 12:15 p.m. This is so the public becomes familiar with the sound f the siren and to make sure that equipment is working in good order.
Some though was given to make it an automated system In a real emergency dispatchers would activate the siren as they are n duty 24 hours a day.
The other LEPC officers are Emerson as vice chairman and Houston as secretary.
