National Preparedness Month and Ready.gov

September is National Preparedness Month. Sponsored by FEMA's Ready Campaign, National Preparedness Month encourages America to prepare for disasters and emergencies in homes, workplaces, and communities.

Ready.gov has instructions on making plans and building kits in case of disasters or emergencies. Some helpful tips include how much water to keep in a basic supply kit (one gallon per person per day for at least three days), a suggested emergency food supply list, and how to manage food without power. There is even a brochure for preparing a kit for your pet (http://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/pets_brochure.pdf).

There are disaster specific tips as well, including for hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes, home fires, blackouts, and biological threats. Each disaster has a "Before", "During", "After", and "More Information" section.

Local chapters of the Ready Campaign include Pennsylvania (http://www.readypa.org/) and Philadelphia (http://oem.readyphiladelphia.org/Ready).

Find out more about National Preparedness Month and what you can do to be prepared at http://community.fema.gov/connect.ti/READYNPM.