National Preparedness Month Part 2

9/20/2019 (Permalink)

Tornado's are Kansas's most famous hazard but fires, flooding and even earthquakes are things we need to look out for..

With National Preparedness Month ending soon it is time to look at the second half of the month’s preparedness strategies and what precautions we should take. If you haven’t it would be a good idea to look at our first post about National Preparedness Month where we cover the suggestions for the first two weeks of the month. A quick summary of the main two points are focusing on making sure you have a financial/insurance plan for disaster and the second point were about making a plan and sharing it with your family or business. 

Week 3 of National Preparedness Month focuses on Youth Preparedness. Things such as teaching kids what to do in the event of an emergency at or away from home, how to communicate during an emergency, and making sure records with schools, hospitals and other places your child spends time with are up to date. There are resources available for kids to learn about preparedness with Wrigley the safety pup or about the National Weather Service with Owlie Skywarn. Sesame Street even offers a Fire Safety Program for preschool kids to teach them about fire safety with songs, stories and coloring. On top of all that there is a resource page of all disasters that you can use to educate your family on relevant threats to you. 

Week 4 of National Preparedness Month invites you to get involved in your Community’s Preparedness. Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) train anyone in our community in essential disaster preparedness such as basic medical ops for disasters, light search and rescue, fire safety and other relevant skills. Anyone 18 years old who lives or works in the county is eligible for the training. Derby and Wichita CERT training information can both be found at the Sedgwick County website and if you live in Andover, KS or anywhere else in Butler County check their website for CERT training information. Additionally adding skills such as CPR, AED, and First Aid can help your family and community. 

While there is no way to be 100% safe from all impending disasters there are many things you can do to make yourself as prepared as possible.