Several opportunities to learn about disaster preparedness are coming your way, courtesy of the cities of Sammamish, Bellevue, and Kirkland.

The City of Sammamish is sponsoring a class on March 10th and on March 17th to learn about disaster preparedness.  The Eastside Business Journal reported on the upcoming class.  Here’s the basics as reported in the Eastside Business Journal online:

Free seminar on disaster preparedness sponsored by the Sammamish Citizen Corp.

Enter to win a free disaster prep kit at disastersareweready@gmail.com

Dates:   March 10th and 17th

Time: 7 PM – 9:30 PM

Location:Pine Lake Covenant Church, 1715 228th Ave SE, Sammamish, WA 98075

Seminar topics include:

• The City of Sammamish Emergency Plans
• Earthquake and Geologic Hazards for King County
• Eastside Fire & Rescue: How we are prepared?
• The Starbucks story: Learn How They Deal with Disaster
• The Map Your Neighborhood for Disasters program
• Sammamish Schools in a Disaster: What Happens?
• Business Preparedness: A “How To” session
• Animals in a Disaster Situation: What you can do to help?
• General Preparedness and “How To” Build a Disaster Kit
• Basic First Aid with the American Red Cross

Do you have to be a Sammamish resident?  No.  I also heard about these classes in a press release from the City of Kirkland.  Most of the information being presented is invaluable, no matter where you live. 

 The City of Bellevue has a 10 minute DVD on disaster preparedness available which you can pick up at City Hall or see as a streaming video on the city website.  The DVD is available in 7 languages:  Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, in addition to English.  The Bellevue city website also has terrific information to help you get prepared for a disaster.

The City of Kirkland has two buttons on the front page of the city website dedicated to disaster preparedness and emergency bulletins.

As a Kirkland resident, you can sign up for the next Mapping Your Neighborhood class, which is on:

Saturday, March 15, 9:30 AM, Kirkland Stake Center, 7910 NE 132nd St (corner of Juanita Drive).  This is a state designed program to help neighborhoods prepare for and deal with disasters.

Check these websites and classes out.  You’ll need to be prepared in the event of a disaster.  The police will take care of major emergencies first.  It’s up to you to be prepared!