NATIONAL
PREPAREDNESS
MONTH
SEPTEMBER IS
DISASTERS HAPPEN. PREPARE NOW. LEARN HOW.
Story by: Brandy Mai
E
ach September, National Preparedness Month
reminds citizens to prepare themselves and their
families for potential disasters. Stocking a Ready
kit, making a financial plan and learning lifesaving
skills (such as CPR) are items that are promoted during
this month dedicated to preparedness.
Often, ordinary citizens are the first ones to respond
after a disaster strikes their community and before first
responders arrive; therefore, National Preparedness
Month stresses to everyone the importance of planning
ahead.
This year, the NPM campaign will focus on plan-
ning, with an overarching theme of Disasters Happen.
Prepare Now. Learn How. In keeping with this theme,
Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Se-
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September 2018
curity Agency encourages people to visit their website
or the Ready Georgia site or app in order to learn more
about planning for disasters and how to ensure their
families are prepared.
“We encourage citizens year-round to prepare and
plan,” said Catherine Howden, GEMA/HS Chief of
Staff. “National Preparedness Month, though, allows us
to amplify those messages due to the increased messag-
ing of the national campaign.”
Ready.gov, a site to help citizens prepare for an in-
cident, outlines the weekly themes for this year’s cam-
paign and provides web and social media resources
for those who want to encourage preparedness in their
communities.
For Jay Wiggins, emergency management director