Preparing Your Community for an Emergency

For Further details please visit the Action with Communities in Cumbria's Website 

How would your community survive the first 48 hours of a serious emergency? You may be cut off from the emergency services, or if the incident covers a large area, they may be occupied elsewhere. Community Emergency Plans can help to minimise the impact of an emergency and help communities to recover more quickly.

Communities are being encouraged to plan for extreme weather events, and other types of emergencies, in order to:

  • Be better prepared for an emergency 
  • Know what to do, before outside help and emergency services can arrive 
  • Work with emergency services and other agencies effectively, using local knowledge 
  • Recover more quickly and effectively after an emergency

This project builds on ACT's previous Community Emergency Planning and Community Led Planning work across Cumbria.

For more information, project information and further guidance is below.


Community Emergency Planning

Although extreme weather conditions, such as flooding and heavy snow, are the most common emergencies which we face, there are a range of other emergencies that could occur within a community such as gas leaks, fires, mass power failure, and major traffic incidents. A plan helps people prepare for an emergency, organises neighbourly help during the incident, makes appropriate links to emergency services and local authorities, and assists with recovery after the event.

Also, visit emergencyplanningcumbria.weebly.com for a wide variety of resources to support communities, businesses, and individuals to plan for emergencies, including Environment Agency advice specifically about flooding.

Specific risks

For some emergencies, some specific preparations may be required. 

Community Led Planning

Community Led Planning is a tried and tested approach that helps local people to explore the needs for their area, set priorities, and produce a shared action plan for the future. Also known as Parish / Village Plans, these can cover a wide range of social, economic and environmental issues - anything which the community feels is important. ACT has support available to help communities work through the process and realise their aspirations.

Millom Community Emergency Plan - In Development

Below is a link to a short video from the first workshop held in Millom to get their Community Emergency Plan started.