National Preparedness Month encourages and promotes family and community disaster planning throughout the month of September, and provides many tools to help Americans continue preparedness habits year round.
The 2021 NPM theme is: “Prepare To Protect” since preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love.
Use the following weekly topics suggested by FEMA’s Ready campaign to help your family, friends, co-workers and fans get more prepared for emergencies and disasters. Also download a free 67-page portion of USFRA's Family Preparedness Guide here...
Week 1: Sept 1-4 — Make A Plan (Discuss how you would communicate with family and friends before, during and after disasters or emergencies, designate meetup places in case you are separated, review insurance papers, etc.)
Week 2: Sept 5-11 — Build A Kit (make various kits for family members for your home, office or school locker, and vehicles, plus grab & go kits in case you have to evacuate quickly to a safer location. Do this with all family members – from kids to seniors and pets!)
Week 3: Sept 12-18 — Prepare for Disasters (Find out the best way to limit the impacts an emergency or disaster may have like having the right insurance coverage, and take some steps to strengthen or improve home, garage and landscape to mitigate or lessen damage from floods, high winds, earthquakes, wildfires and more)
Week 4: Sept 19-25 — Teach Youth About Preparedness (Talk to kids about the types of disasters that happen where you live and travel. Teach them lessons on preparedness so they can be prepared, not scared by practicing fire, earthquake and tornado drills often and making kits together then updating kits twice a year on daylight savings weekend.)
With knowledge comes power so, if more people would learn what to do before, during and after certain types of scenarios, it could alleviate a lot of problems, anxiety, fear and loss, as well as lessen the burden on local emergency services.
Download and share a free 67-page portion of USFRA's Family Preparedness and First Aid Manual to help your loved ones do the above steps and get more prepared and resilient, and visit our Disaster Preparedness group to find more tools and resources.
Also ... if your agency, nonprofit or volunteer group is looking for funding ideas, read more here