National Preparedness Month (NPM) is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “Ready Campaign” in partnership with Citizen Corps. NPM is held each September to encourage Americans to make sure they are prepared for disasters or emergencies in their homes, businesses, and communities.
With all the news about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the preparedness information couldn’t be more relevant.
This September, NPM will focus on planning, with an overarching theme “Disasters Don’t Plan Ahead. You Can.”
We should all take action to prepare! We are all able to help first responders in our community by training how to respond during an emergency and what to do when disaster strikes — where we live, work, and visit. The goal of NPM is to increase the overall number of individuals, families, and communities that engage in preparedness actions at home, work, business, school, and place of worship.
The website www.ready.gov is an excellent tool for preparedness information with information and links to additional resources. There you’ll find information on how to make a disaster or emergency plan.
Richland Public Health also has ample amounts of local disaster information at their emergency preparedness link. It’s located on the left orange button in the middle of its web page at www.richlandhealth.org. There you will find a folder with more than 50 downloadable PDF documents from the American Public Health Association (APHA) covering a variety of Emergency Preparedness issues.
