National Preparedness Month begins September 1 and runs all month long. It was created by FEMA to encourage people to prepare for emergencies and disasters, whether they be on a personal level within the home or larger scale throughout a community.
Every year, residents, communities, and businesses across the United States and around the world experience emergencies; fires, floods, severe weather, and human-caused hazards.
Facing emergencies and reacting to disasters is a part of life. These events test our resilience and prove our ability to overcome adversity.
We can help ourselves, our family, and our communities overcome these unknown and unwanted events by being knowledgeable of and planning for emergencies.
For the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management (OEM), this means focusing on and testing our Mass Care and Shelter Plan. On Saturday, September 17th, we and our partner agencies held a large scale exercise named Operation SheltEx . The Mass Care plan looks at the safety of people in the city if they should be evacuated from their residence or building due to an incident or event.
Preparedness and Planning
OEM is in the middle of revising the City’s Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). The HMP helps the city, state, and federal government understand to what extent hazards, like flooding or a blizzard, may affect Philadelphia.
Hundreds of people have taken our survey which helps shape the plan. Half the Philadelphia residents who have taken the survey say they have an emergency plan in place for their family. Nearly 57% of those surveyed do not feel confident they are prepared for an emergency.
Our office works to change this. We want and need you to be informed, to be safe, because you are part of our plans. You are the public in public safety.
Five Steps to Become Better Prepared
- Make a Family Emergency Plan. This includes; building a shelter-in-place kit, making a Go-Bag if you should need to evacuate, having copies of important documents, updating your emergency contacts form and your health information.
- Plan for everyone. Have a plan that considers needs of those with access and functional needs. This is a concern of ours when opening a reception center or shelter. Locations we open during an emergency are open to everyone.
- Put your pets in your emergency plans too. Your animals are welcome at city reception centers and shelters.
- Know the difference between evacuating and shelter-in-place and what they mean to you.
- Stay in communication:
- Sign up for ReadyPhiladelphia, the city’s mass notification system. Free, real time weather alerts direct from the National Weather Service Mount Holly and emergency information from the city (such as shelter locations) is sent to you as a text message or email.
- Follow @PhiladelphiaGov, @PhilaOEM, @PhillyPolice, @PhillyFireDept, @PHLPublicHealth, and @philly311 for important updates prior to, during, and after an emergency.
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