September is National Preparedness Month, and the City of Santa Rosa wants to highlight the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. This year’s theme is “Prepare to Protect. Preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love,” and starts with making an emergency plan.
Our City and surrounding communities have been devastated by damaging fires over the last several years. It is critical that residents focus on different aspects of preparedness for individuals, families, and communities by using the following steps:
Week 1 September 1-4: Make A Plan
Talk to your friends and family about how you will communicate before, during, and after a disaster. Make sure to update your plans based on any personal changes and take into account the most current Centers for Disease Control recommendations and County of Sonoma Health Orders due to COVID-19.
Week 2 September 5-11: Build A Kit
Gather supplies that will last for several days after a disaster for everyone living in your home. Don’t forget to consider the unique needs each person or pet may have in case you have to evacuate quickly. Update your kits and supplies, especially if they haven’t been checked recently.
Week 3 September 12-18: Low-Cost, No-Cost Preparedness
Natural disasters don’t wait for a convenient time. Preparing for them shouldn’t wait either. Start today double and triple checking your signed up for the appropriate alerts, safe-guarding important documents and or any changes to them and taking other low cost and no cost preparedness actions to lessen the impact of disasters and emergencies for you and your family. Visit Know Your Alerts, Evacuation Zone and Neighborhood Travel Routes.
Week 4 September 19-25: Teach Youth About Preparedness
Talk to your kids about preparing for emergencies and what to do in case you are separated or need to evacuate and or relocate to a safer location. Reassure them by providing information about how they can get involved.
More Information
For more information on National Preparedness Month, visit ready.gov/September. Residents are also encouraged to visit srcity.org/WildfireReady and srcity.org/ReadySR to be prepared. Topics include: Evacuation Preparedness Tips, Make an Emergency Plan, and Preparing an Emergency Kit.