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Showing posts with label emergency preparedness kits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emergency preparedness kits. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Earthquake Warning! Earthquake Warning! Prepare For Another Big One



This is an interactive map for Yellowstone below.  There are other interactive maps as well if you would like to explore the site below.

Map of Yellowstone Webicorder stations
About the Webicorder Display, including interpreted examples of earthquake recordings.
Webicorder displays are organized by region. They can be accessed using links from regional station maps or stations lists.
  • Station maps for the Utah Region, Yellowstone Region, and Teton Region provide an easy interactive path to available Webicorders for the last seven days.

    (Note: The Teton region stations are maintained and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Webicorder displays are provided as a service to the Advanced National Seismic System.) 
http://www.quake.utah.edu/helicorder/yell_webi.htm

Are You Ready? Guide

"Are You Ready?"  Guide book cover.An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness

Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness (IS-22) is FEMA’s most comprehensive source on individual, family and community preparedness. The guide has been revised, updated and enhanced in August 2004 to provide the public with the most current and up-to-date disaster preparedness information available.

Are You Ready? provides a step-by-step approach to disaster preparedness by walking the reader through how to get informed about local emergency plans, how to identify hazards that affect their local area and how to develop and maintain an emergency communications plan and disaster supplies kit. Other topics covered include evacuation, emergency public shelters, animals in disaster and information specific to people with access and functional needs.

Are You Ready? also provides in-depth information on specific hazards including what to do before, during and after each hazard type. The following hazards are covered: Floods, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Thunderstorms and Lightning, Winter Storms and Extreme Cold, Extreme Heat, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Landslide and Debris Flows (Mudslide), Tsunamis, Fires, Wildfires, Hazardous Materials Incidents, Household Chemical Emergencies, Nuclear Power Plant and Terrorism (including Explosion, Biological, Chemical, Nuclear and Radiological hazards).

Are You Ready? is also available in Spanish, and can be used in a variety of ways including as a read-through or reference guide. The guide can also be used as a study manual guide with credit awarded for successful completion and a 75 percent score on a final exam. Questions about the exam should be directed to the FEMA Independent Study Program by calling 1-800-238-3358 or by going to training.fema.gov/is.

Also available is the Are You Ready? Facilitator Guide (IS-22FG). The Facilitator Guide is a tool for those interested in delivering Are You Ready? content in a small group or classroom setting. The Facilitator Guide is an easy to use manual that has instruction modules for adults, older children and younger children. A resource CD is packaged with the Facilitator Guide that contains customizable presentation materials, sample training plans and other disaster preparedness education resources.
Copies of Are You Ready? and the Facilitator Guide are available through the FEMA publications warehouse (1.800.480.2520). For large quantities, your organization may reprint the publication. Please visit our reprint page for more information.
For more publications on disaster preparedness, visit the Community and Family Preparedness webpage.

Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness Full Document (PDF - 21Mb)

http://www.ready.gov/are-you-ready-guide

    Monday, October 17, 2011

    Here is what FEMA says to prepare for in the case of a fire.  You would be smart to have these emergency preparedness essentials on hand for any emergency.  Give it a read and then take action.

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    Step 1: Get a Kit

    Get an Emergency Supply Kit which includes items like non-perishable food, water, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries. You may want to prepare a portable kit and keep it in your car. This kit should include:
    • Copies of prescription medications and medical supplies;
    • Bedding and clothing, including sleeping bags and pillows;
    • Bottled water, a battery-operated radio and extra batteries, a first aid kit, a flashlight;
    • Copies of important documents: driver’s license, Social Security card, proof of residence, insurance policies, wills, deeds, birth and marriage certificates, tax records, etc.

    Step 2: Make a Plan

    Planning Your Escape
    • Make a Family Emergency Plan. Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.
    • Plan places where your family will meet, both within and outside of your immediate neighborhood.
    • It may be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town, so an out-of-town contact may be in a better position to communicate among separated family members.
    • You may also want to inquire about emergency plans at places where your family spends time: work, daycare and school. If no plans exist, consider volunteering to help create one.
    • Be sure to consider the specific needs of your family members
    • Notify caregivers and babysitters about your plan.
    • Make plans for your pets
    • Take a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class from your local Citizen Corps chapter. Keep your training current.
    • Plan your escape
    • Review escape routes with your family. Practice escaping from each room.
      • Make sure windows are not nailed or painted shut. Make sure security gratings on windows have a fire safety opening feature so they can be easily opened from the inside.
      • Consider escape ladders if your residence has more than one level, and ensure that burglar bars and other antitheft mechanisms that block outside window entry are easily opened from the inside.
      • Emergency escape masks/smoke hoods have the potential to reduce fire-related deaths and injuries by protecting users from smoke inhalation and many other toxic gases, provided they are used properly and perform effectively.
      • Teach family members to stay low to the floor (where the air is safer in a fire) when escaping from a fire.
      • Clean out storage areas. Do not let trash, such as old newspapers and magazines, accumulate.

    Step 3: Be Informed

    Prepare Your Home

    Install Smoke Alarms
    • According to FEMA, properly working smoke alarms decrease your chances of dying in a fire by 50 percent.
    • Place smoke alarms on every level of your residence. Place them outside bedrooms on the ceiling or high on the wall (4 to 12 inches from ceiling), at the top of open stairways or at the bottom of enclosed stairs and near (but not in) the kitchen.
    • Test and clean smoke alarms once a month and replace batteries at least once a year – a good way to remember to do this is to replace the batteries during National Preparedness Month which occurs every September. Or, as you set your clock back for daylights saving time, remember to check and replace your smoke detector batteries.
    • Replace smoke alarms once every 10 years
    • Find out how to keep food safe during and after and emergency at http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/emergency/index.html.
    • More information on smoke alarm safety and an interactive quiz at USFA.DHS.gov
    http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/fires.html
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    These are great videos for younger families to learn about fire safety...



    Sunday, August 28, 2011

    Emergency Communication & Emergency Preparedness Kit For The Workplace.

    Communication In Emergency





    An Emergency Preparedness Kit for the Workplace
    Hardly a week passes without news of a natural or man-made disaster somewhere in the United States or around the world. Floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, ice storms… the list goes on. One thing is certain. If you get through a single year without so much as a power outage, you've had a great year.

    In my area of suburban Connecticut we've had three weather-related power outages so far this year, and it's only July. The worst outage, during a windstorm in March, knocked out power for five days for some homeowners. That's not just an inconvenience. That's a serious, sometimes dangerous, situation.

    While many people keep emergency preparedness kits at home, they often overlook the workplace. That doesn't really make sense. Your chances of getting caught in an emergency at work are significant. Yet few of us who work outside the home have made any preparations for the unthinkable. It's as if we think the office manager has got all that stuff covered. And that's not smart.

    Here’s the scenario: You are at work. Out of the blue, a disaster hits. It doesn't really matter what causes it. Let's say it brings:

    - Power outages|
    - Lights and heat out
    - Landline phones down
    - Major transportation disrupted
    - Blizzard weather conditions
    - Water shut off

    And you're stuck at work. Perhaps overnight. It's your worst nightmare.

    Unless, that is, you had the foresight to put together your very own Work Emergency Preparedness Kit. If you'd had such foresight, here's what it might include:

    • Contact info and directions for the 3 closest hotels/motels
    • Black & Decker "Storm Station" to keep cell phone charged
    • Flashlight and extra batteries
    • Battery-powered lantern
    • Emergency blanket
    • Extra toothbrush and toothpaste
    • Backup personal hygiene items
    • A sleeping bag (in case you can't get to the motel)
    • Some extra cash
    • Emergency phone numbers – family, friends, neighbors
    • A good book that you haven't read
    • Some canned or freeze-dried food
    • A gallon jug of fresh water
    • A manual can opener
    • A deck of cards
    • A battery-powered radio
    • Some comfortable clothes, such as sweats
    • A good sense of humor (you can't store it, but you can develop it for a rainy day)

    Those items may not sound like they'll bring you much comfort, but imagine for a second if you have none of the above in your workplace work when disaster hits. You'd be left without any options at all, other than spending some cold, dark hours curled up in your office chair, sipping the remnants of your cold coffee from breakfast.

    You can adjust the contents of the kit to suit your particular needs, storage space available to you, climate, and so on. An emergency work preparedness kit isn't meant to replicate a 4-star hotel. But it is meant to give you a modicum of comfort and safety, in circumstances that you hope will never arise. But if they do, you'll want to be ready.

    http://www.jobacle.com/blog/2010/7/29/an-emergency-preparedness-kit-for-the-workplace.html