Importance of National Preparedness Month with FEMA

AccuWeather

Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency explains the origins of National Preparedness Month and how it highlights the steps people can take to prepare for emergency situations.

Transcript

00:00September is National Preparedness Month. FEMA created this. When did it begin and what is the

00:06overall mission? So National Preparedness Month has been around since I think about 2004 and the

00:15focus is to try to highlight the importance of preparedness and the steps that people can take

00:22to protect themselves, to protect their families, to look out for their loved one.

00:27And what we have been doing year after year is really general messaging about the steps that

00:33people can do. I'm sure both of you have heard, you know, make that three-day kit of supplies

00:38that you can have ready to either take with you if you need to leave or something at home.

00:43But what we've done over the last couple of years is we've really started to target

00:47some of our more diverse populations to get more specific messaging that they can relate to,

00:54really encourage them to take the steps and the actions that they need in order to protect

00:58themselves. And what kind of emergency should everyone think about this month and how can

01:05people prepare at home? Well, you know, you were just talking about some of the weather systems

01:10that are out there and those are certainly, you know, things that we want to focus on during

01:16the peak of hurricane season, which is, you know, why we do this in September, because it's the

01:20peak of one of those busiest times. But I think as both of you know, I mean, our threats are

01:25year-round. And so people need to prepare for everything. We had one of our busiest springs

01:31this year with tornadoes and flash flooding. We've also had derechos. And now we have hurricane

01:37season and we see a lot of different systems that are developing out in the Atlantic. And so really,

01:43people need to take this as an opportunity to know what their risk is, where they live,

01:49what their unique risk is, and then what their personal needs are going to be, right? Do you

01:54need power to support a medical device or do you need refrigeration for medicine?

01:59And then build that plan for your risk and your personal needs.

02:04FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, thank you again for joining us.

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