This September marks the eighth annual National Preparedness Month, a nationwide campaign sponsored each year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to encourage all Americans to take simple steps to ensure that their families and commu-nities are prepared when disaster strikes.  In recognition of the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, this year’s official preparedness slogan is “A Time to Remember.  A Time to Prepare.”
 
Emergencies come is all forms – from hurricanes and tornadoes, to wildfires and flooding. The objective of National Preparedness Month is to increase public awareness about the importance of preparing for emergen-cies including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks and to en-courage individuals to take action to prepare themselves and their families before an emergency occurs.
 
This month, I urge families through-out southwest Michigan to take a few moments to develop a disaster prepar-edness plan. First, folks should put together an emergency kit with essen-tials like water, non-perishable food, a first aid kit, a flashlight, and extra batteries.
 
I also encourage every household to have their own communications plan in place as the entire family may not be together when disaster strikes – we should all plan how we will contact our loved ones and review what we would do in different situations.    
If you have children, it is a good idea to ask for a copy of their schools emergency plan, so you can be pre-pared to contact and locate your child even during a school-day emergency. 
 
It is important to note that disasters will vary from region to region. Please find out the potential for emer-gencies that may occur in your area and how your community notification system works. In addition, learn about the emergency plans that have been established your state and local gov-ernments. One can never be too pre-pared for times of crisis.
 
For free emergency preparedness information and resources for devel-oping your emergency plan and kit, please visit www.ready.gov or call toll-free 1-800-BE-READY.

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