Plan to Stay Safe

September is National Preparedness Month, which promotes planning for emergency disasters within your home or in your community. The 2019 theme of the campaign is “Prepared, Not Scared.”

With Hurricane Dorian in the news right now, it’s a perfect reminder for us how important it is to have an emergency plan of action. Emergencies don’t have to be hurricane related; being prepared also applies to areas prone to tornadoes, earthquakes and flooding. Even having a fire emergency plan for your household is very important.

Here are some helpful tips for emergency preparedness:

• Talk to family members about what to do if you are separated in an emergency
• Have a weather radio and extra batteries on hand
• Have mobile phones charged when bad weather is expected
• Learn first aid so you can assist others in medical crisis

The 2017 American Housing Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, revealed that 52.9% of U.S. households have a prepared emergency evacuation kit and 58.6% have an emergency water supply. Here is an interesting graphic that shows how prepared American households really are.

Once you start a preparedness plan for your own home, you may decide to get more involved in community preparedness. There are many places in your own community to volunteer to help others, such as part of a search and rescue team or American Red Cross volunteer. There is even an online database to help you locate volunteer opportunities through the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) website. There is also a free online course offered through FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute.

Now that September is here, start planning and be prepared in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Sources: census.gov, nvoad.org, pexels.com