Thanks to the efforts of the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments (MTRCOG), a map will soon be available showing local storm shelters, evacuation centers, and/or recover centers in each of the eight counties - Audrain, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Pike, Ralls, Randolph and Shelby - served by the MTRCOG.
"This information will be distributed to the general public via the MTRCOG website as well as distributed to elected officials, schools, and EMDs (emergency medical departments)," said Samantha Diffenderfer, a community planner with the MTRCOG, who added the project is due to be completed by Oct. 31.
Diffenderfer says gathering the information has been a "very tedious process."
"It requires a number of phone calls to county commissioners, city officials, EMS (emergency medical services), etc., to see what services they have available in the event of a natural disaster," she said. "A general list will then be created for the location of each facility. Then more phone calls will likely be made to the actual facility to inventory the services they are able to offer at each location. For example, some locations might have a generator available in the case of a power outage but other locations might not have that capability."
The data being compiled is unique.
"As far as we know, there is not a centralized map or list of all the available storm shelters, evacuation centers, or recovery centers in our area. Therefore, all of the information generated from this project will be raw and unorganized data that will need to be compiled into an easy-to-read and easy-to-access document available to the general public," said Diffenderfer.
The availability of emergency facilities varies greatly throughout the region served by the MTRCOG.
"Some communities have some very good facilities that are very prepared in the event of a natural disaster," said Diffenderfer. "However, some communities have very limited access to some of these shelters. Much of this area is very rural with there being a number of towns/cities that have a population of less than 1,000. Therefore, making sure that a community has access to a state-of-the-art shelter without traveling more than an hour is often difficult."
Diffenderfer believes the information that has been collected could prove to be a valuable tool.
"Our area is affected by natural disasters in a number of ways - flooding, tornadoes, ice, etc.," she said. "In order to better serve and respond to these disasters, it is important to have knowledge about what to do and where to go when these problems arise. This project can also help elected officials identify where they are doing very well at being prepared for these disasters as well as where some needs might be."
The mapping of the emergency sites is one part of two phases undertaken by the MTRCOG. The initial phase was a Low Water Crossing Inventory/Mapping, which had a completion deadline of July 31.
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