We’re coming up on the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (prepare for the media onslaught!), you might recall that New Orleans revealed just how ill-prepared the government was to handle a disaster on any scale. But it also raises the question: how prepared are you in the case of a natural disaster?
Flooded Lake Forest area of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Ready America, a national PSA campaign from the Department of Homeland Security, gives three steps for disaster preparation. First, families, when thinking about the possibility of an emergency situation, should focus the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air, and warmth. The Ready America website has a checklist of suggested items to include in your kit.
The second step is coming up with an emergency plan. The crux of each family’s plan should be communication. Identifying an out-of-town contact, ensuring that your family knows each other’s phone numbers by heart, and making sure everyone knows how to send text messages (probably not an issue with the younger family members). Ready America also has suggestions specific to the type of home you live in and where you are at the time of the disaster.
Last, Ready America recommends that everyone should “be informed.” Perhaps it’s a suggestion erring on the side of vague, but their site also lists some great, concise information on everything from hurricanes to volcanoes to biological threats.
In the case of a natural disaster, are you and your family prepared? Are you “informed”? Discuss!
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I have a pretty standard disaster kit, as well as an emergency ID
The Ready campaign has also created helpful social media tools.
Here’s an interactive widget you can embed on your blog that provides updates on emergency situations, emergency kit checklists, and preparedness guidelines: http://seed.sproutbuilder.com/vgA3Qu3yD0Rq3Krh
And here’s an interactive emergency family plan tool: http://ready.adcouncil.org/beprepared/
I have a flashlight by my bed…Hmm…maybe I’m not as prepared as I thought.
We actually have a family plan, but no disaster kit. But it looks like most of it is household stuff, so maybe I’ll spend the afternoon gathering it in a convenient place — just in case.
Where the heck is my flashlight?