NOAA, FEMA Launch National Severe Weather Preparedness Week

TRENTON, N.J. — FEMA, in conjunction with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration has launched its second annual National Severe Weather Preparedness Week. This week focuses on you, your family and your community being prepared in the event of a disaster.

Each year people are killed or injured due to hurricanes, blizzards or other natural disasters despite early warnings. In 2012, there were more than 450 weather-related fatalities and nearly 2,600 injuries.

Putting together a disaster supply kit is essential to making sure that your family has the provisions needed for each individual. Some kits may need additional items if there are seniors or infants in the house.

Developing an emergency plan is the groundwork for your family to prepare itself if a disaster strikes without warning. Collect information from FEMA and your local emergency management offices

and gather your family members and discuss the information to put in the plan. After the plan is in place, exchange contact information and make sure that it remains current.

As FEMA and other federal partners can support, individuals can contribute to preparing themselves and their community for severe weather in their area. After Sandy, countless New Jerseyans have given their time to helping strangers with anything from providing food and water to clearing debris from the streets. It is this “How can I help?” attitude that speeds up the recovery process and leads to a stronger, more resilient community.

Just as important, NOAA suggests that everyone not only be prepared but inspire others to do the same. NOAA’s “Be a Force of Nature” toolkit offers a variety of ways you can help spread the word among your friends and neighbors to always be prepared for severe weather.

Visit ready.gov/severe-weather or noaa.gov/wrn to learn more about severe weather and to be better prepared.

For more information on New Jersey’s disaster recovery, visit fema.gov/SandyNJ, twitter.com/FEMASandy, facebook.com/FEMASandy and fema.gov/blog.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema. 

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.