National Preparedness Month 2024

September is National Preparedness Month. Each year National Preparedness Month is recognized to promote family and community disaster and emergency planning. Each year FEMA puts out a themed campaign during National Preparedness Month to bring attention to the need to prepare for potential disasters.

The Ready.gov website has a number of resources to help your community conduct disaster and emergency planning. A variety of handouts, guides, public service announcements, and a link to the FEMA app are all available through the website. Even if you are not in the midst of an emergency, having these helpful items downloaded, customized, and stored in an easily accessible location will save time in the event of a disaster.

FEMA also has a YouTube site with a wide array of videos that your community can watch and learn from. One such video is on developing and facilitating tabletop exercises. No, this is not a community-based version of Dungeons and Dragons. But exercises that take into account different scenarios and helps your community work through how to respond to them. I encourage communities to select at least one video each year and share it with the decision-makers in your community. Getting this information in the minds of others well before disaster strikes is important when the unthinkable happens.

Each year, Rural Resurrection typically provides at least a post or two related to preparing for disasters during the month of September. Here are a few links to previous National Preparedness Month posts:

• Tabletop Exercises Help with Disaster Preparedness
• Plymouth Shares “Prepare to Protect”
• Do you have an Emergency Archive?
• Communication is Key When Preparing for Disasters

Read up on disaster preparedness now so that you’ll be prepared for when disaster strikes. There’s a saying, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Preparing now will help your community take that punch and recover.