September is National Preparedness Month: Preparedness Starts at Home

September is National Preparedness Month, a nationwide marketing campaign led by FEMA’s Ready Campaign to encourage everybody to take easy steps that make an enormous distinction in relation to security.

This yr’s theme, Preparedness Starts at Home, highlights the significance of being prepared for emergencies the place you reside. Whether it’s a wildfire, energy outage, flood, or perhaps a family emergency like a hearth, taking time to plan forward means you and your loved ones will probably be safer and extra snug when catastrophe strikes.

FEMA encourages everybody to give attention to 4 key actions:

1. Know Your Risks
   Learn concerning the kinds of emergencies that would occur right here in Sonoma—like wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and excessive warmth—and learn how to keep protected. Find out what hazards impact Sonoma.

2. Make a Family Emergency Plan
   Decide the way you’ll contact one another, the place to satisfy, and what tasks every individual could have. Create and practice your plan with FEMA’s templates.

3. Build an Emergency Supply Kit
   Stock up on necessities like meals, water, drugs, flashlights, chargers, and first support provides. Don’t overlook pets! See what to pack in your kit.

4. Get Involved
   See native assets under to remain updated on native emergency plans, join alerts, and join along with your neighbors. Working collectively makes the entire neighborhood extra resilient.

Local Resources

Preparedness is handiest while you join with the assets closest to you:

• City of Sonoma:
  Visit the City’s Emergency Preparedness web page to find out about native hazards, neighborhood assets, and the way the City responds throughout emergencies.

• Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management (DEM):
  Stay knowledgeable by SoCoEmergency.org — the County’s official emergency data website. You may join SoCoAlert to obtain pressing alerts by telephone, textual content, or electronic mail.

• California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES):
  Explore statewide preparedness ideas and instruments at CalOES.ca.gov to find out how California coordinates assets and response throughout disasters.

Preparedness doesn’t must be costly or difficult—only a few small steps could make an enormous distinction. As you make your plans, keep in mind to think about the wants of everybody in your family, together with seniors, folks with medical wants, neighbors who may have additional assist, and pets.

Learn extra: Visit Ready.gov, SoCoEmergency.org, and the City of Sonoma Emergency Preparedness web page to start out getting ready at the moment.