The city of Joplin is teaming with a non-profit organization to assist local homeowners and businesses in preparing for disasters.
Lynn Onstot, the city’s public information officer, says they’ve teamed with the Louisiana-based St. Bernard Project to present a disaster resiliency session.
“Should something happen to your family or your home, you want to know where to meet, or where the papers are for your insurance claims, how to reach certain personnel at banks, things of that nature. “
Onstot said that the project is also presented to remind residents and businesses that while this kind of planning is easy to do, people tend to put it off thinking it won’t ever happen to them.
Members of the St. Bernard Project will be the ones doing the presenting at each seminar. It’s not the first time city has worked with the non-profit concerning this topic.
“Following Joplin’s disaster in 2011, we had many people reach out to us in our time of need. We have partnered with St. Bernard on various efforts and discussions about how to do various projects, how to maneuver through certain scenarios, that type of thing. ”
The project contains four, one-hour sessions for homeowners and two sessions for businesses detailing emergency planning, such as documents needed after a disaster strikes, filing insurance claims and securing property to avoid or reduce damage.
Onstot said that local firefighters and members of the city’s emergency staff will also be in attendance to answer questions about local response.
The sessions are free and participants do not need a reservation. The first meeting for homeowners is this Thursday at 7 pm, with the first business session set for Tuesday, February 2nd at 10 am. All sessions will be held at Joplin City Hall, located at 602 South Main Street.
Here’s the complete session schedule:
Homeowners:
7 p.m. Thursday, January 28
1 p.m. Tuesday, February 2
1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday, February 17
6 p.m. Thursday, February 18
Small to midsize businesses:
10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 2
10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 17