Avian Flu Diary: A Reminder About National Preparedness Month

#14,240

We are just over two weeks away from the start of National Preparedness Month - and as I do every year - I'll be posting new, and updated, blogs on how you, your family, and your community can become better prepared to deal with a disaster.

While FEMA, Ready.gov, and every state and local Emergency Management office across the country wants you to be prepared, regrettably `prepping' has gotten a bad rap over the past few years.

The Hollywood stereotype of a prepper; a gun-toting, bunker dwelling, doomsday fanatic, itching for a global disaster to validate their preps (and their fears) - while they probably do exist - is an outlier.

Most preppers far have more realistic concerns, and have taken important - but far less drastic - steps to protect their families.

They try to keep an extra week's supply of food in the pantry, have a week's worth of water stashed in the closet, and carry a first aid kit in the trunk of their car. They have a family communications plan, have discussed where they would meet up if separated, and - if they are smart - have a few `camping' supplies on hand.

They prepare, not for doomsday, but for the type of disasters that happen every year around the globe; hurricanes, floods, blizzards, wildfires, and extended power outages.

Sadly, despite the recommendations of FEMA, and Ready.gov, many Americans opt not to prepare in any significant way. Mostly, I suspect, out of denial that a disaster could ever happen to them - or perhaps a belief that if one does happen - that disaster relief would reach them in a matter of hours.

The reality is that in most disasters, you'll need to be prepared to fend for yourself for the first 72 hours. And depending upon the severity and scope of a disaster, that time frame could easily extend to a week or longer.

Next month we'll get getting into specific disaster preparedness scenarios, including earthquakes, hurricanes, and even pandemics. But you shouldn't wait til then to begin to prepare. These events don't follow calendars, and as the CDC infographic below illustrates, Americans have a lot of work to do to be ready for the next disaster.