September is National Preparedness Month

NEW YORK – September is National Preparedness Month, a good time for all New Yorkers to take advantage of resources that are available to help prepare for the next disaster or emergency.

The event, now in its ninth year and hosted by the Ready Campaign and Citizen Corps, encourages households, businesses and communities to prepare for emergencies.

FEMA urges New Yorkers to be prepared to be self-reliant during an emergency for three days without utilities and electricity, water service, fuel, access to a supermarket or local services, or maybe even without response from police, fire or rescue.

Preparing can start with four steps:

1. Be informed about emergencies that could happen in your community, and identify sources of information in your community that will be helpful before, during and after an emergency.

2. Make a plan for what to do in an emergency.

3. Build an emergency supply kit.

4. Get involved.

To assist with these efforts, FEMA will be sharing planning resources on the New York Sandy Web page (www.fema.gov/SandyNY) throughout the month. The documents should be shared with family, friends and community organizations.

Preparedness is a shared responsibility; it takes a whole community. This year’s National Preparedness Month focuses on turning awareness into action by encouraging all individuals and all communities nationwide to make an emergency preparedness plan. Preparedness information and events will be posted at http://community.fema.gov/connect.ti/READYNPM. Information is also available at 1-800-BE-READY, 1-888-SE-LISTO or TTY 1-800-462-7585.

For more information from New York State on preparedness, visit www.nyprepare.gov/aware-prepare. 

For more information on New York’s recovery from Hurricane Sandy, visit www.fema.gov/SandyNY, www.twitter.com/FEMASandy, www.facebook.com/FEMASandy, www.fema.gov/blog.