From the City of Ottawa

Emergency Preparedness Week 2023
May 7-13, 2023
Everyone has a role to play in an emergency. EP Week is an opportunity for you to take action to ensure you are prepared to protect yourself, your family and your community during an emergency. This year, the theme is Be Prepared. Know Your Risks. The intent of the theme is to encourage Canadians to understand the risks in their area and learn what actions they can take to protect themselves and their families.
Emergency Tool Kit
Emergencies can happen to anyone at anytime. Do you have an emergency plan to make sure that you, your family, and your community are ready when something happens? The below package should help you prepare for various emergency situations and help you identify potential hazards and risks. A prepared community is a safer community.
Hydro Ottawa Emergency Preparation


Ottawa Public Health
Emergency Preparedness Week has been a national event for over 25 years and aims to promote awareness about the importance of knowing what to do before, during and after an emergency. We know that emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere and can affect everyone. We also know some people are impacted more than others, particularly those living in densely populated areas and those with less access to resources.
This year OPH’s activities will highlight the importance of social capital - staying connected and leveraging networks and relationships among people within our community. When people have fewer material resources, they are less likely to be prepared for emergencies, which is where social capital fits in. When people in communities are already connected, it is easier to ask for or offer help. OPH is working to leverage and promote social capital as an emergency management strategy in priority neighborhoods, focusing on seniors living alone and the people who care for them.
As members of this community, we all have a role to play in an emergency. This week is an opportunity for us to take action to ensure we are prepared to make sure that we, along with our families and friends, and our communities are safe during an emergency. This year, the national theme is “Be prepared. Know your risks” which is intended to encourage residents to understand the risks where they live and learn about what actions they can take.
So, what can we do to be prepared and know our risks? Get to know our neighbors! A connected community is a resilient community. We can reduce health inequities by fostering connections within our communities and sharing information about how neighbors can help neighbors before, during, and after emergencies and where to go if they need further support.
Learn your risks by visiting the City of Ottawa’s Emergency Preparedness webpage: Before an emergency | City of Ottawa.