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Communication During Emergencies is Focus of County Work Session

Lighthouse Prime is a program created to help residents ready themselves and their families for natural and man-made catastrophes.

Denver1
(TNS) - An El Paso County, Colo., commissioner will propose a strategy Thursday to help citizens communicate during blizzards, wildfires, cyber attacks and other disasters that could kill internet connections and phone lines.

At a work session after the commissioners' regular meeting, Peggy Littleton will introduce the details of Lighthouse Prime, a program she created to help residents ready themselves and their families for natural and man-made catastrophes. The program aims to educate citizens about disaster preparedness and establish a system of communication to use during a widespread power or internet outage. Under her proposal, volunteers would be trained to operate ham radios, allowing government officials to keep residents updated.

"Data shows that the most critical thing people want during an event is information and communication," Littleton said. "Without that, that thin veneer of societal structure begins to unravel very rapidly."

The session will give residents a chance to learn more about the program and voice their support for a county-wide disaster preparedness effort, Littleton said.

The work session will begin at 10 a.m. or later in the Centennial Hall auditorium at 200 S. Cascade Ave., according to a county news release. Speakers from the Denver Office of Emergency Management, National Cyber Exchange, Colorado Springs-based Council of Neighbors and Organizations, Pikes Peak Amateur Radio Emergency Service and county public health department will discuss how emergencies could affect the community.

Littleton modeled the program after a disaster-preparedness initiative in Seattle. She said she hopes her fellow commissioners will ask county staff to move forward with implementing the proposal at the conclusion of the session.

"Why not take that extra step to be safe rather than sorry?"

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