Get
a Kit,
Make
a Plan, and
Be
Informed, all of which are highlighted in the bullets below.
1.
Get
a Kit - Remember that
you may need to survive on your own after an emergency, which means having
food, water, and other supplies on hand that will last you at least three
days. Recommended items for a basic emergency supply kit include:
o
Water
o
Food
o
Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio (with extra
batteries)
o
Flashlight and extra batteries
o
First aid kit
o
Whistle to signal for help
o
Dust mask
o
Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
o
Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
o
Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
o
Local maps
o
Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger
Additional
items to consider include such things as prescription medication and
glasses, infant formula and diapers, pet food and extra water for your pet(s),
cash, important family documents, and more. For a comprehensive guide to
making a kit please refer to this Emergency
Supply List.
2.
Make
a Plan Because
your family may not be together when a disaster or emergency strikes, it is
important to plan now how you will contact each other, how you will get back
together, and what you will do in different situations by creating a Family
Emergency Plan. Some items that should be included in this plan, for which
you can find more detailed information on the Ready.Gov Make
a Plan page, are:
o
Identify an out-of-town contact that all family members can check in with
after a disaster (it may be easier to make a long-distance call than a local
call after an event occurs)
o
Make sure all members of the family know the phone number for the contact
and have a cell phone, coins, or prepaid phone card to call the emergency
contact
o
Teach family members how to use text (SMS or Short Message Service)
messaging (text messages can often go around network disruptions when a
phone call might not get through)
o
Subscribe to alert services available in your community (e.g., AlertSF)
Also,
your family plan should include a discussion on how to decide whether to
stay at home or evacuate during an emergency or disaster; what types of
disasters, both natural and man-made, are most likely to occur in your area
and how you will be notified; and what emergency plans are available at
places where your family spends time such as work, child care, school, etc.
Several forms can be downloaded from the Ready.Gov site (Family
Emergency Plan) to assist you in creating a Plan. Forms include
the Family Emergency Plan template, adult folding wallet card, childs
folding wallet card, and additional family members list.
3.
Be
Informed - Visit this
page to learn about the different types of disasters that can occur (on the
left side of the page) and the appropriate way to respond to them. The list
is relatively comprehensive, but remember there are certain disasters that
are more likely to occur in our area (e.g., earthquakes) than others
(e.g., tornadoes) that you should more thoroughly familiarize yourself with
in regard to how to prepare. Remember, too, that you can get information on
State and local emergency planning efforts by clicking on the map on the
right side of this page.
Below I have listed several additional
resources that you might find helpful, some of which I have shared before,
as well as resources with ideas for how you might participate in NPM and
stay active and knowledgeable about emergency preparedness year round.
·
FEMA
Blog This blog provides information on disaster preparedness
and the work FEMA is doing in response to disasters throughout the nation.
·
National
Preparedness Month Coalition This website provides additional
information on NPM, a calendar of events that are being hosted around the
country to acknowledge NPM, how you can host a NPM event in your community,
and more.
·
Citizen
Corps Get Involved webpage This page provides information to
individuals on how to get involved in their community to support local
emergency responders, disaster relief, and community safety. Suggestions
include:
o
Volunteer with community organizations such as the American Red Cross or
become trained to serve on a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), or
Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) as it is known in San Francisco.
o
Serve on your local Citizen Corps Council (for more information on the
Citizen Corps, visit their About
Us page).
o
Teach others to be prepared by
collaborating with the Citizen Corps and using the FEMA publication, Are
You Ready? A Guide to Citizen Preparedness.
o
Start a community preparedness project. For detailed information on how to
start a project, refer to the Community
Preparedness Toolkit.
·
72hours.org
This site has additional information on getting prepared and
provides information on disasters and emergencies that are more likely to
occur in the San Francisco Bay Area.
·
Extension
Disaster Education Network (EDEN) This site is designed to
link and provide information to Extension educators from the across the U.S.
and various disciplines; however, there are a number of resources that may
be of interest to you as well, on topics such as Families
and Communities (including
a section on disasters and children), Hazards
and Threats, Human
Health, and
more.