National Preparedness Month: Are You Ready?

By ABH2 Kelly Williams , NAS Sigonella Emergency Operations Center

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM) and one of Emergency Management’s favorite times of the year. NPM was started in 2004 and is sponsored by FEMA, with a goal of helping communities throughout the nation to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, schools, and communities to include natural disasters and terrorist attacks. No one ever plans to be in a “real world” disaster, and that in itself is the reason why we should all be prepared.

As our nation continues to respond to COVID-19, there is no better time to be involved than this September. Here in Sigonella we encourage everyone to do what they can to prepare themselves and their families. This year’s theme is: “Disasters Don’t Wait. Make Your Plan Today.”

One of the most important things you can do to ensure you are prepared for any emergency is to Make a Plan. Talk to your friends and family about how you will communicate before, during, and after a disaster. Make sure to update your plan based on the Centers for Disease Control recommendations due to the Coronavirus. Taking a few minutes or even a few hours every now and again to sit down with your family and create or go over existing emergency plans. Including children in this process will help them to understand all of the details and their individual responsibilities should an emergency occur. Decide on fire escape route for each room of your home, locations where you can meet up if you get separated, or perhaps what to do or where to hide if there’s an active shooter or a shelter-in-place is ordered.

You have the ability to make plans for every instance, so do it! Should a disaster occur, you’ll be glad that you prepared your plans.

Your plans should also include who will be in charge of your emergency / disaster response kits. Don’t have one? On https://www.ready.gov you can see a great list of items to have in your kit for a multitude of occasions and don’t forget to make a kit for your pets too! If you need any further assistance with kits, we at Emergency Management can point you in the right direction for putting one together and also help you think of ways to tailor your kits personally and for specific instances.

And as always please make sure all your information including any dependents are up to date for our AtHoc, also referred to as Mass Warning and Notification System. If you should ever find yourself in a real world emergency please don’t hesitate to call the EOC’s Emergency Dispatch Center (our 911) at 095-86-1911 or DSN 624-1911. For non-emergencies, you can contact the Emergency Dispatch Center at 095-86-5225 or DSN 624-5225.