Working with the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Emergency Alert System, NWR is an “All Hazards” radio network. Known as the “Voice of NOAA’s National Weather Service,” NWR is provided as a public service by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Department of Commerce.
It broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, directly from the nearest National Weather Service office.
One of the Prepare Kansas week 3 challenge tasks is to begin assembling grab-and-go bags for family members, including household pets. You may be wondering how these are different from the emergency supply kits you assembled in weeks 1 and 2.
The short answer is that they may contain some similar items. In our minds, there are differences though. A basic household or vehicle emergency kit will be used whenever there is an emergency. A grab-and-go bag will likely only be used when you and members of your household need to evacuate quickly. Sometimes it might be hard to decide what the outcome of the emergency will be and you will want to grab both.
Items to include in grab-and-go bags for individual family members include those that are listed as additional items to consider on FEMA’s emergency supply list as well as the supplies for unique needs listed at http://www.ready.gov/kit
Individual and family needs vary and so will needs over time. Be sure to include items that will meet your current needs and update your grab-and-go bags at least once a year.
This week marks the half-way point of the Prepare Kansas online challenge. How is it going? The Challenge Tracking Sheet is a great tool to help you stay on track. It is posted on the right-hand side of the blog under “Activities by week.”
We’d like to hear about your activities and your progress with the challenge tasks. If you’d like to share a bit about your experiences in getting prepared, please be in touch via the comment tool here on the blog.
And remember: you have the entire month to complete the Challenge so don’t worry if it feels as if you are off to a slower start than you had hoped.
Cheers to getting prepared ahead of disaster!
