September is National Preparedness Month (NPM) and FEMA has launched a series of initiatives designed to promote disaster readiness throughout the country. Some of the programs that the agency is promoting include Ready America (which helps educate families and individuals), Ready Business (which breaks down the preparedness basics for companies and may be very helpful to many of our readers) and Ready Kids (which is an attempt to ingrain the concept of preparedness to the next generation).
Many states have jumped on board with the national effort and despite the fact that September seems a little late in the hurricane season for states like Louisiana and Florida to push the concept, awareness is the key here — any extra attention that FEMA’s outreach can get will be helpful.
In Colorado, the agency has had some particular success with its outreach as it took to Elbert Elementary school to promote the same agenda advocated on the Ready Kids website. With some help from Disney, FEMA was able to bring some edutainment to the kids, who had a good time and hopefully learned a little too.
Elbert Elementary received one shelter-in-place kit for each classroom, which included food, water, blankets and additional items to assist teachers and students for up to 12 hours in the event of an emergency situation. Teachers were educated on the kit and encouraged to add to it as needed.
READYColorado and Elbert Elementary kicked off preparedness events with a Radio Disney Party. As part of each assembly, Radio Disney educated the children on various elements of preparedness, including fire safety, emergency kit packaging, pet safety in emergencies, and flu readiness. Radio Disney also featured fun contests including various preparedness trivia games, a Readiness Toss, kit creation, and a Readiness Scramble. There also was plenty of dancing and singing with Radio Disney DJs. Kids received prizes and were encouraged to think about preparedness actions they can take at home and at school.
Other school preparedness parties are scheduled throughout the state during the month of September.
The video below isn’t all that compelling, honestly, but it provides a decent idea of what the day entailed. I’m not sure how many resources or people the agency has devoted to such endeavors, but I would urge any educators who would like to get involved in something similar or just want to receive educational materials to contact FEMA through it’s Ready America contact page.