The Masters of Disaster Camp wrapped up on Friday, August 17, 2018 at the Cobourg Community Centre.
Emergency Coordinator for the Town of Cobourg, Shannon Murphy spearheaded the program and told Today’s Northumberland the camp’s two goals were to have fun and to teach the campers about emergency preparedness.
Each day was different having different speakers including Haliburton Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, Cobourg Fire Department, Northumberland County Paramedics, Cobourg Police, Northumberland OPP, Lakefront Utility Services along with other agencies.
Fire safety, police safety, rail safety, tick safety, healthy food choices and hand washing.
“Each day we learned about a different disaster and we learned about it in a very non-threatening way that the kids could understand,” said Murphy.
The week of fun and learning ended off with the Zombie Apocalypse Race which was a number of “disasters” that tested what they learned the previous days.
The camp idea came from Markham Emergency Management who came down to help out on Friday along with the Cobourg Fire Department, Cobourg Police, St. John Therapy Dogs, members of the Cobourg Community Centre and more.
Summing up the event Murphy said, “I think it was fun and most of the kids got a lot out of it. My hope is over a few years of doing this we educated kids and maybe in a few years educating adults the next generation knows what to do in a emergency.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
