National Preparedness Month

National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month – the annual campaign to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, schools, organizations, businesses and communities. The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management recently sent a fantastic email with practical and important information to prepare for a disaster. I know. I know. I don’t like talking about it either, BUT I’d much rather talk about it NOW rather than AFTER.

PREPAREDNESS AT SCHOOL

Back-to-school preparedness means more than buying notebooks and pencils! On the first day of school this year, we sent Suddenly Seven with a large ziplock bag with food essentials, contact information as well as a photo of us. Here are some added recommendations:

• Find out where children will be taken if they have to evacuate the school;
• Ask if they store enough food, water and other supplies in case they have to “shelter-in-place;”
• Designate a friend or relative to pick up your children in an emergency and make sure the school knows who that person is; and
• Ask how they will communicate with families during a crisis.

FAMILY PREPAREDNESS

Here are three easy steps for you and your family to take to get involved and be better prepared:

 Step 1: Pledge to Prepare

The first step to getting involved is to register as a coalition member at Ready.gov/pledge. Members will have access to the online community, resources and tools available to help get you and your family prepared for an emergency.

After pledging, the get a disaster bag together. Please. It’s so so so important!

 

Step 2: Take a Free Online Preparedness Course

I’ve never done this, but am planning to…this week, as a matter of fact! Developed in partnership with the Emergency Management Institute and in consultation with faith-based and community partners, FEMA’s “IS-909 Community Preparedness: Implementing Simple Activities for Everyone” training course will introduce you to a program for promoting individual and community preparedness through simple and engaging activities. The course is free, available online and is designed for anyone to use in coordination with your local emergency preparedness partners.

Step 3: Implement Simple Preparedness Activities

FEMA has made available to the public, free training and resources to help you and your family to take action and implement simple preparedness activities. Some of the simple activities include:

• Creating a no-cost or low-cost disaster kit;
• Preparing for utility outages; and
• How to use a fire extinguisher.

I sure hope that none of us has to deal with this nonsense, but we all know that isn’t realistic, so please, do yourself, your family and your community a favor and get prepared!