Prepare Kansas

Tag: #disasterprep

Grab-and-go bags

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.

NPM Digital Toolkit 2015 Flood_3
Image source: NPM Digital Toolkit 2015

 

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.

Plan and practice a tornado drill

You may not always have advance warning that a tornado is approaching your location. You may not be at home. Taking the time to identify where you would go for the best protection for every place where you spend a lot of time (for example, home, work, school, house of worship) and how you would get there is part of being prepared.

PrepareAthon_Web_Badge_Join_In_TornadoBut it is not enough. Actually practicing is as important. The following suggestions are from the FEMA guide, How to Prepare for a Tornado.

  • Identify a shelter or other protective location beforehand.
  • Practice moving quickly to the protective location.
  • Take note of how long it takes you to get there.
  • Consider those with disabilities and those with access or functional needs.

Challenge activities week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of the 2015 Prepare Kansas online challenge! If you feel like you might have gotten a slow start during Week 1, don’t worry. You have the entire month to complete the Challenge.

Challenge activities for September 7 – 13 are to:

  • plan and practice a family/workplace tornado drill, and
  • complete your emergency supply kit.

Check the blog throughout the week — we will continue to post helpful information about how to accomplish each of the challenge tasks.

 

Don’t wait — communicate

The Prepare Kansas online challenge* takes place each year during September.  September is also National Preparedness Month (NPM). The month finishes big on September 30 with a national day of action, National PrepareAthon! Day.

National Preparedness Month 2015
National Preparedness Month 2015

One of the challenge tasks for Week 1 is to complete a family or workplace communication plan to use in the event of a disaster and communicate the details with everyone who needs to know about it.

If you aren’t sure what to include in your plan, check out this information and the resources at ready.gov

We’ve also posted some helpful links here on the blog.

* There is still time! Take steps ahead of disaster and register by September 6 at http://bit.ly/1pwiiFE