Lowdham Volunteers aims to help and encourage people to be resilient both at an individual and community level.
Resilience builds well-being, promotes growth and effective flood risk management by being better prepared to deal with an incident.
This means we will be
- proactive, not reactive
- prepared not panicking
- active not passive
Building resilience includes many elements – primarily the Lowdham Emergency Plan – which support, signpost and raise awareness of how to be resilient.
“The ….characteristic of resilient communities is the ability to reduce, prevent and cope with the flood risk.
They are knowledgeable and aware of the risk, are well-prepared and respond better when a flood occurs, and recover more quickly from disasters.” (Schelfaut et al, 2011)
The Cabinet Office defines Community Resilience as:
‘..communities using local resources and knowledge to help themselves during an emergency in a way that complements the local emergency services.’
Our aim is that Lowdham will be better prepared to cope during and after an emergency encouraging everyone to work together using their local knowledge.
e.g.
- understanding what requirements most-at-need groups may have in an emergency can make a real difference.
- identifying and planning for the risks you may encounter during a severe flood could help in reducing the potential impact on you, your family and the wider community.