DISASTER AWARENESS DAY ALLOWS GROUPS TO DISCUSS PREPARATION

The movie "Volcano" doesn't depict a natural disaster common to this region, but several emergency organizations hope it will remind people to be prepared for other emergencies.

Wehrenberg's West Park 4 Cine' will sponsor Community Disaster Education Awareness Day at West Park Mall on Saturday, and it has called on several local organizations to help educate people on earthquake and disaster preparedness.

This event was originally supposed to promote the movie "Volcano," which premieres in mall theaters today. Theater manager Brady Moses rescheduled the event to coincide with the Community Resource Fair, which is being held at the mall on Saturday.

"We got kind-of sidetracked to more of a community-service type of thing," Moses said. "We wanted to put something together to educate the people about what to do in case of an earthquake."

Representatives from area businesses and educational and emergency services will be on hand at the event, which lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The agencies will have disaster displays and printed literature available on earthquakes and how to prepare disaster plans and kits.

Mary Burton, executive director of the Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross, said she hopes the movie and awareness event will remind people of the importance of being prepared. It is extremely important for families to check the water, check the batteries, and make sure their disaster kits are in good shape.

"The Iben Browning (earthquake) scare had all types of people taking classes and getting their disaster kits together," said Burton. "How wonderful that was. These types of movies are important because they heighten awareness and help people focus on the things they need to do to be prepared for the disasters they will face."

Susan Russell, general manager of Cape Girardeau County Private Ambulance Service, said her display will concentrate on first-aid skills and reaction to crises. Ambulance service would be in great demand after an earthquake, she said, and people should be prepared to evaluate and handle a crisis until emergency personnel reach the scene.

"In the event of a disaster, our services would be greatly interrupted," Russell said. "Everyone should have some first-aid preparedness in the event that we could not get to them immediately."

Moses said natural disasters are unavoidable, but people can lessen the extent of the disaster if they are prepared.

"There's nothing you can really do to prevent it from coming," he said, "but the only thing you can do is try to keep it from becoming a major disaster and taking care of as many details as possible. The main focus of this won't be to show what the agencies can do for you, but to focus more on what you can do in the event of an emergency."