September is National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month! It is a time to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters. If you’ve watched the news recently, you know that emergencies can happen unexpectedly in communities just like yours, to people just like you. We’ve seen tornado outbreaks, river floods, hurricanes, flash floods, historic earthquakes, tsunamis, and even water main breaks and power outages in U.S. cities affecting millions of people for days at a time.

Police, fire, and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker community recovery will be.

This September, please prepare and plan in the event you must go for three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or local services. Just follow these steps:

• Stay Informed: Information is available form federal, state, and local resources. Access Ready.gov to learn what to do before, during and after an emergency. Additional resources can be found on the Midland Be Weather Ready website.


• Make a Plan: Discuss, agree on, and document an emergency plan with those in your care. For sample plans, go to Ready.gov. Work together with neighbors, colleagues, and others to build community resilience.


• Build a Kit: Keep enough emergency supplies including water, non-perishable food, a battery back-up NOAA weather alert radio, first aid supplies, prescriptions, and flashlights on hand for you and those in your care.

If you’d like to get involved even more, consider planning a Ready Kids event in your community to encourage families to get prepared with their children. Invite officials from your local Office of Emergency Management, Citizen Corps Council, or first responder teams to speak at schools or youth events. You can also work with your local American Red Cross Chapter or train with a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).