Tips for National Preparedness Month

Tips for National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month which means it's the perfect time to prepare your family for emergencies. You never know when something will happen that negatively affects your family, so preparing ahead of time will give you some peace of mind. 

1. Find and utilize useful resources.

There are plenty of resources you can find online to that are there to help you prepare for and be aware of emergencies. An easy place to start is to make sure you are signed up for any alerts to be sent to you when an emergency happens. 

Reach out to your local health department, emergency agency, etc. to find out how they share their alerts. Next, find both local and national emergency phone numbers to keep a list close to the phone for anyone at your home to use. Spend some time searching online or calling local organizations to find information that you can keep on hand for emergencies.

2. Protect your home from burglars.

There are plenty of ways to protect your home from burglars, so take the time to set up some protective measures. Take a look at your home and try to find weaknesses where a burglar could potentially break in. If there are trees or bushes that lead up to the second floor, make sure those higher windows are secure as well. Check your yard to check if there’s anything lying around that a robber could use to break in. If you have a home security system like SimpliSafe, always check that it’s updated and functioning properly.

3. Prepare your family for natural disasters.

Natural disasters often don’t give off much of a warning, so it’s important to educate and prepare your family for these dangerous events. Teach your family members about the different natural disasters and how to stay safe during them. Try quizzing your family on what happens during each disaster and what they should do to survive them. It’s a good idea for all of your family members with a cell phone to sign up for weather and emergency alerts. In Malaysia, natural disasters that we often can found is float and all families should have the basic knowledge during this disasters. Even so, many dies during this time due to negligence such as letting the kids playing in the float and the kids drown. This incident can be avoided if we are well prepared and enhance our safety level.

4. Establish a safe word for your family.

A family safe word can come in handy for many situations. Pick a word or phrase that you wouldn’t typically say so your family knows it’s being used. Safe words are great to use in situations like a robbery or if there's an emergency in public. Let your kids create a new word that your family can memorize and no one else would be able to guess. Of course, it’s important to share with your children how serious this word is and that it shouldn’t be shared with people outside of the family.

5. Create a disaster plan.

Each family should create their own personal disaster plan. Write the plans down and keep them somewhere safe so each family member can reference them whenever they need to. If for some reason you need to leave your home for an emergency, you should have a safe place to meet planned. This plan should fit well for every person in your family. It’s also essential have disaster kits in your home and vehicles with important items that would assist you in these emergencies. Here are some examples of items you should keep in the kit.

I hope this tips will gave you some clue and help you for your family safety plan. So if you have any other tips on the National Preparedness Month to share with me do drop your comment. Thank you!