(Wampsville, NY – Sept. 2015) September is National Preparedness Month, a good time for all Madison County residents to take advantage of the resources that are available to help prepare for the next disaster or emergency. Madison County residents need to be prepared to be self-reliant during an emergency for three days without utilities and electricity, water service, fuel, access to a supermarket or local services.
“National Preparedness Month is an ideal time for all residents to revisit their emergency preparedness efforts,” says Ted Halpin, Madison County’s Emergency Manager. Preparing starts with these four steps:
Be informed about emergencies that could happen in your community, and identify sources of information in your community that will be helpful before, during and after an emergency.
Make a plan for what to do in an emergency.
Build an emergency supply kit.
Get involved.
To assist with these efforts, Madison County has these planning resources on the County Emergency Management web page and Twitter feed:
https://www.madisoncounty.ny.gov/emergency-preparedness/home and Twitter: MadisonCoNY_EM.
Other great preparedness websites include: http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster and http://www.ready.gov/.
This information should be shared with family, friends and community organizations.
Locally, Madison County is hosting a Governor’s Citizen’s Preparedness Program on Sept. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the New Beginnings Church, 227 Genesee St. in Wampsville. This will be an opportunity to learn about emergency preparedness and about local emergency management programs. In addition, each household attending will receive a free backpack loaded with emergency supplies.
Residents can always register online to receive emergency alerts via NYAlert by going to the County’s alert webpage: https://users.nyalert.gov/
Preparedness is a shared responsibility; it takes a whole community. This year’s National Preparedness Month focuses on turning awareness into action by encouraging all individuals and all communities nationwide to make an emergency preparedness plan.
Preparedness information and events will be posted at http://community.fema.gov/about. Information is also available at 1-800-BE-READY, 1-888-SE-LISTO or TTY 1-800-462-7585.