National Preparedness Month
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Collapse ▲Are you prepared?
September is recognized each year as National Preparedness Month, supporting FEMA’s campaign to encourage individuals, families, and communities to take steps now to ensure they are safe, protected, and ready when disaster strikes.
The Challenge:
Don’t wait until it’s too late to take action. Every step you take now can help you, your family, and your loved ones be better prepared and reduce the risks that come with emergencies, in whatever form they may take. While it’s impossible to be fully prepared for every situation, there are many practical measures you can put in place today that will strengthen your readiness and resilience.
This month, challenge yourself to complete at least five tasks from our Emergency Preparedness Bingo — or, if you’re feeling ambitious, aim to check off the entire board. Each and every action you take now can make a meaningful difference when it matters most.
Bingo de preparación para emergencias
We’re kicking off the National Preparedness Month BINGO Challenge — and you can win a prize! Check out the details on our Chatham County Cooperative Extension Facebook page and see the rules and entry guidelines below.
How to Prepare:
Disasters can happen anytime and anywhere. Is your family ready to manage until help arrives? Do you know what to do to be ready? Preparation is the key. By taking steps now, you can ease stress and minimize the impact when emergencies occur.
Be sure to rely on trusted, accurate resources when learning how to prepare. Here are a few to help you get started:
Resources to Help
Ready.gov
This is an official website managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Its purpose is to help Americans by providing tailored guidance on how to plan ahead, respond, and recover from a wide array of emergency situations. Ready.gov offers a variety of preparedness and planning tools to assist in this goal, with many of these resources available in multiple languages.
READY Chatham
READY Chatham is Chatham County’s initiative to encourage residents and businesses to take steps to prepare themselves and their community for disasters. Some of the basic steps to preparedness are provided, as well as resources to help in accomplishing those steps.
ALERT Chatham
This is a program provided by Chatham County Emergency Management that allows you to receive notifications via phone calls, text messaging, e-mail and more based on locations you select. This system will be used to notify you about imminent threats to health and safety as well as other notifications that may affect your home or workplace. Visit this site and sign up today to ensure you receive critical emergency notifications when they matter most.
Chatham County Emergency Management
Chatham County Emergency Management works to protect residents and visitors of Chatham County, North Carolina through a unified and comprehensive emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery by local, State, and Federal partners, private industry and volunteer organizations. Their site offers information on Emergency Plans, Emergency Medical Services, and many more important resources related to keeping Chatham County safe.
Ready NC
This site provides North Carolina residents and visitors a comprehensive hub for disaster readiness and response, centered around three core principles: Plan, Prepare, and Stay Informed. It also acts to support recovery efforts and features involvement opportunities like CERT volunteer programs.
A Disaster Kit for Staying at Home
This factsheet by NC State Extension offers essential guidance for assembling a home-based disaster supplies kit tailored to scenarios where residents must shelter in place without water or electricity. It is a practical, no-nonsense resource: it distills essential preparedness steps into a clear, accessible checklist for families, focusing on the realities of staying safe at home during emergencies when outside help may not be immediately available.
NC Disaster Information Center – Preparedness Factsheets
This page offers practical guides to help North Carolina residents prepare for a wide variety of emergencies, from hurricanes to caring for your pets in an emergency, and more. Resources are available in multiple languages and provide clear, scenario-based checklists for effective disaster readiness.
American Red Cross – How to Prepare For Emergencies
This site provides practical tools such as the free Emergency App, guidance on building first aid and supply kits, multilingual preparedness checklists, emergency contact cards, and short CPR training resources. It also offers tailored advice for over 20 different types of disasters, with the goal of helping individuals and families stay prepared and resilient in emergencies.
Additional Resources for Making a Plan
Emergency Programs – Prepare
North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Disaster website has information on disaster preparedness for farms and other agribusiness. Also see their Farm Emergency Plan Template below.
Ready.gov/plan
The Make A Plan page on Ready.gov helps households create personalized emergency plans by outlining how to get alerts, arrange for shelter, plan evacuation routes, and set up family communication. It stresses tailoring plans to individual needs, including medical, language, or pet considerations, and provides digitally fillable & printable forms, communication cards, and resources in multiple languages. See below for their handout on emergency planning for pets, as well as a fillable Family Emergency Communication Plan.
Family-Communication-Plan_fillable-card
ready.gov_prepare-pets-for-disasters
Ready NC – Make a Plan
Every household should have an emergency plan that outlines where to go in the event of an evacuation, how to stay in touch, and the steps to take along the way. This site offers guidance on creating a comprehensive plan, including considerations for communication, managing utilities, safeguarding important documents, and more.
Want to stay connected with Chatham County Cooperative Extension’s Community & Rural Development for updates on workshops, resources, and opportunities that strengthen local communities. Join the Listserv today!