SLO County launches new emergency information website

People in San Luis Obispo County have a new go-to website to use for emergency situations.

“It will provide preparedness information in advance of an emergency, emergency during an emergency and recovery information following an emergency,” said ​​​​​Anita Konopa, San Luis Obispo County Emergency Services Coordinator.

Just launched a few days ago by the San Luis Obispo County of Emergency Services, ReadySLO.org is a valuable online information center that Konopa said was badly needed in the county.

“It was important that we had a resource that the entire community could go to that had an easy URL and had all of the information that they might need before, during and after an emergency, kind of a one-stop shop approach to providing information out to the community,” Konopa said.

The website is very similar to ReadySBC.org, which is the emergency information site for Santa Barbara County.

It was created last year in the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and Montecito debris flow.

Visitors to ReadySLO.org will find all kinds of information dealing with emergency events that could strike San Luis Obispo County at any time.

“We have information on fires and floods,” said Konopa. “We have information on earthquakes. We have information on power outages and we have a lot of information on Diablo Canyon as well.”

Other types of events listed on the site include hazard materials situations, storms, tsunamis, extreme heat and public health concerns.

Konopa said the days-old website will continue to create additional features, especially after the department receives public input.

“We have a list of added hazards that we’re working on putting together,” said Konopa. “We’re going through now and putting in some public health-related emergencies and we’ll be looking at adding some other ones like active shooters that people are interested in learning more about.”

The website was designed to be user-friendly and easy to understand.

“Each of those sections (Prepare, Current Emergency Information, Recover) are color-coded with blue, red and green,” said Konopa. “All the tiles are clearly labeled with pictures and kind of short sentences and titles to let you know where you need to go.”

The site was created in partnership with countywide emergency services, such as the Sheriff’s Office and Cal Fire, as well as all seven San Luis Obispo County city emergency agencies.

“We’re excited to see this website come on board because it is that one-stop shop for our community members to go to and gather a great deal of information in a limited amount of time and become very knowledgeable in what they can to best prepare for a major incident or major disaster in our communities,” said San Luis Obispo Fire Chief Keith Aggson.

With so many emergency incidents happening nationwide, as well as the potential for those to happen locally, Konopa stressed the importance that people in the county take a look at the new website.

“It’s vital to be prepared for an emergency.” Konopa. “The more the community can prepared in advance of something happening, the better we can handle our response and our recovery from an emergency, so we encourage everyone to go here and check it out now and get really prepared for yourself and your family for an emergency, should it happen.”

The public is encouraged to view the ReadySLO.org website and provide any feedback they feel could improve the site.

San Luis Obispo County Office of Emergency Services can be reached by email at oes@co.slo.ca.us