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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Join hundreds of other ogranizaions in promoting National Preparedness Month!

View the National Preparedness Month September 2007 Coalition Member Tool Kit

Find out more at the Ready website which has preparedness information for families, kids and businesses.

View the Coalition Member List

Learn more about uniting communities at Citizen Corps.

Available Opportunities for People to Get Involved in Community Preparedness

1,485 local Citizen Corps Councils

58,756 volunteers completing CERT training

1,194 citizen advocates for Fire Corps

73,000 volunteers in police service

30,000 volunteers in Medical Reserve Corps

11,027 Neighborhood Watch groups registered

FACTS OF LIFE

National Preparedness

“Being prepared for a disaster is often the key to surviving one.”

Get it together

Why is Family Preparedness Important?

Because in 95% of emergency situations, local bystanders are the first available responders. (Citizen Corps PowerPoint Presentation)

Consider these ratios:

1 firefighter for every 265 people (National Fire Protection Association (2003))
1 EMT/paramedic for every 325 people (Journal of Emergency Medical Services (2004))
1 sworn officer for every 334 people (National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (2003)

Because being prepared reduces loss of lives and property.

10 Most Costly US Disasters
(2005 $ millions)

Rank	Peril	Insured Loss
1	Hurricane Katrina (2005)	$40,600
2	Hurricane Andrew (1992)	21,576
3	Terrorist Attacks (2001)	20,732
4	Northridge CA earthquake (1994)	16,473
5	Hurricane Wilma (2005)	10,300
6	Hurricane Charley (2004)	7,728
7	Hurricane Ivan (2004)	7,351
8	Hurricane Hugo (1989)	6,607
9	Hurricane Rita (2005)	5,000
10	Hurricane Frances (2004)	4,751

(1) Property coverage only.
(2) Adjusted to 2005 dollars by the Insurance Information Institute.

Source: ISO; Insurance Information Institute.

How prepared are our families?

While 67% of individuals consider emergency preparedness a very important issue, only…

42% have put together their own emergency supply kit.
32% have put together a family emergency plan.
22% have actually taken the initiative to receive more information on how to get themselves or their families prepared.
11% of households have done all three.

More facts on national preparedness can be found in the Facts of Life Archive .

For the fourth straight year, Homeland Security, COMCARE, and over 1,170 other national, regional, state, and local organizations have all agreed to take part in National Preparedness Month to increase awareness of preparedness issues.

This year , the month will focus on four different areas of emergency preparedness.

September 1-8; Back-to-School (Ready Kids)
September 9-15; Business preparedness (Ready Busines)
September 16-22; Multicultural preparedness (Listo)
September 23-30; Home and family preparedness, including pets, older Americans and individuals with disabilities and special needs (Ready America)

Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, members of the Homeland Security Committee, and Reps. Bennie Thompson and Peter King, will serve as honorary Congressional co-chairs of National Preparedness Month 2007. They will lead the effort, hoping to eventually increase public awareness and the importance of emergency preparedness on Capitol Hill. More

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Webinar
DHS held a Webinar to kickoff National Preparedness Month 2007. The powerpoint presentation gives an overview of the month and the National Preparedness Campaign. View the Presentation

Managing Victims of a Mass Casualty Incident
Homeland Responder Training Network, which has the largest online video archive for Emergency Prepaerness, presents Part I of its latest video brief on the topic of Mass Casualty Incident. View the Video

"Extreme stress is a typical psychological response encountered by victims and responders in mass casualty incidents and can be presumed to affect all persons exposed to some degree. Controlling public reactions by minimizing the extent of fear and panic can provide positive results during response operations."

Family Communications Plan Develop a list of emergncy contacts and educate your children about who to call and where to go. More

COMCARE Members

COMCARE's Members Only webpage under "Resources" includes posters, newsletters, FAQ's and other material that you can use to encourage emergency preparedness among your visitors and clients.

Not a COMCARE Member?

Click here to learn how you can become a member of COMCARE today!

Make Preparations for Pets Learn how to make emergency preparations for pets: sometimes you can't take them with you. More

National Preparedness Month and the READY Campaign Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. The Department of Homeland Security and Citizen Corps have worked to create the READY Campaign to increase citizen awareness of the importance of emergency preparedness. More

Click here to read DHS' fact sheet.

Click here for DHS' press release announcing National Preparedness Month

Stuart Berlow, Director of Injury Prevention Policy at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), presented his latest research on mental health problems that develop in the wake of major disasters at COMCARE’s September Membership Meeting on Family and Community Preparedness. Click here to read Mr. Berlow's presentation.

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