State emergency preparation guide.
Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge used this anniversary of the September 11th attacks to remind Iowans that this is “Family Preparedness Month.” Judge says the most important thing we learned from 9-11 is that being prepared for an emergency will save lives.
“Please sit down sometime soon this month, make sure that you and your family are ready for an emergency. That is not only going to make our state safe, it is going to save the lives of those that matter the most,” Judge says. Iowa Homeland Security director Dave Miller joined the Lieutenant Governor and says there are three steps that every Iowan should do to prepare.
Miller says you should make a family emergency plan, build an emergency supply kit, and be aware of the hazards that may affect your community. Miller says making that emergency plan is the first step as you may not be together with your family when an emergency happens and you should know where to go and how to get ahold of them. Judge and Miller says natural disasters have shown in the last year how import it is to be ready.
Miller says taking care of yourself and your neighbor is what happens first in an emergency. “And I think the floods last year in particular emphasized that fact, that the time to prepare is not in the middle of an evacuation in the middle of the night,” Miller says. Judge says we can take for granted the need for a plan with all the modern communication devices we now have.
Judge says we all rely so much on our cellphones, and if those phones were not usable for some reason, you need to think about where you would meet or get ahold of your family. Miller and Judge say you can find out how to prepare a plan and other information on being prepared at BeReadyIowa.org.