ReadyNOVA: 2016 Winter Emergency Preparedness

Northern Virginia residents, plan to be prepared! Much like Winter Storm Jonas, disasters can disrupt hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Now is a great time to sit down and make a plan while you’re at home. Visit ReadyNOVA.org to make a preparedness plan for you, your family, your business, or your faith community.

Each disaster has lasting effects, both to people and property. If a disaster occurs in our community, local government and disaster relief organizations need to prioritize time and resources to those most in need/danger. Therefore it is every citizens' responsibility to be as prepared as possible on their own. You should plan to be sustainable on your own for at least 72 hours in the face of severe weather or any type of disaster that could occur here such as earthquakes, fires, a pandemic, flooding, and terrorism / acts of violence. Being prepared for these threats could mean providing for your own shelter, first aid, food, water and sanitation for you, your family, your business, or your place of worship.

Preparing for an emergency during or after an emergency is too late! You might have a matter of days or hours to prepare for emergency events, but other times they strike swiftly and lethally, without warning. According to the Farmers’ Almanac, the winter of 2015–2016 will present severe weather conditions similar to last winter. This can include temperatures with unseasonably cold conditions over the Atlantic Seaboard. The 2009 Citizen Corps National Survey reported that while more than 82% of U.S. residents are aware that emergency preparedness is important to handle disasters, most have made little, if any, actual preparations!

Preparing yourself, your family, business, and/or faith community can have many positive outcomes in addition to reducing the impact of disasters and sometimes avoiding danger completely. This can include:

• Being prepared can reduce fear, anxiety, and losses that accompany disasters.
• Now is the best time for people to get ready for the next emergency because no one knows whether it will occur in their home, their community or across the United States.
• By taking responsibility for our own preparedness, we can help contribute to the resilience of our community.

Visit www.ReadyNOVA.org to make a preparedness plan today! ReadyNOVA is a simple, online, step-by-step preparedness planning tool for residents, businesses, and faith organizations in the Northern Virginia metropolitan area. The goal of the ReadyNOVA effort is to increase citizen, community and business awareness for emergency planning and build community resiliency.

Plan to be prepared!

Visit www.ReadyNOVA.org.