This week let’s go back to basics. Why prepare?
There are real benefits to yourself, your family and your community when you are prepared.
• Being prepared can significantly reduce feelings of fear and anxiety, as well as material losses that accompany disasters.
• Your personal preparedness will free up shared resources to aid the less fortunate.
• Being proactive (flood proofing, securing items that could shake loose in an earthquake) can reduce or avoid the impact of disasters and associated dangers.
The need to prepare is real. Disasters disrupt thousands of lives every year. If a disaster occurs in our community, local government and disaster-relief organizations will try to help you, but you need to be ready as well. Local responders may not be able to reach you immediately, or for several days, or they may need to focus their efforts elsewhere.
Communities, families, and individuals should know how to respond to severe weather or any disaster that could occur in your area— hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme heat or cold, flooding, tsunami or terrorism. They should be ready to evacuate their homes and take refuge in public shelters and know how to care for their basic medical needs, along with the needs of their family members and pets.
You should also be ready to be self-sufficient for a minimum of three days. Preparing for 10 days is even better. This will mean providing for your own shelter, first aid, food, water and sanitation.
This series of articles is meant to help give you step-by-step advice on how to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. Are you ready? No? Then start today. Here is the American Red Cross 21 Weeks to prepare shopping list for Week #12.
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