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Gov. Nathan Deal Encourages Families to Prepare During Severe Weather Awareness Week

Feb 7th, 2012 by

You may remember that last year began with a snow and ice storm that paralyzed North Georgia for several days. As a result, many of my inaugural activities were postponed. In fact, my first official act as Governor was to declare a State of Emergency due to this storm.

In April, Georgia was pummeled by 15 tornadoes, which killed 15 people and injured 143 people across the state. The most powerful twister to hit the state was an EF-4 storm that struck Catoosa County, killing eight and injuring at least 30.

Georgia also remained in the grip of a prolonged drought throughout 2011. This was a major factor in the wildfires that spread last summer, burning more than 320,000 acres in South Georgia over two months. Approximately 250 people were evacuated, and more than 1,300 firefighters responded from around the U.S. and Canada.

As Governor, I am committed to raising awareness so that individuals and families know what to do in order to be prepared for severe weather. That’s why I proclaimed Monday, Feb. 6 through Friday, Feb. 10  Severe Weather Awareness Week in Georgia.

During a disaster, it may take emergency workers longer than normal to reach you, particularly if roads are blocked by downed trees or flooding. However, by taking a few simple steps, you can become your own first responder, helping to ensure your family’s safety and well-being when a disaster strikes:

1.      Develop and rehearse a family disaster plan
2.      Assemble a disaster supplies kit to sustain your family for at least three days
3.      Stay informed of the different types of severe weather that may impact you
4.      Purchase and maintain a NOAA Weather Radio to receive warnings day or night

In September, GEMA’s Ready Georgia campaign, in partnership with the Georgia Department of Public Health, launched a preparedness app to help families get ready on the go, and I am pleased to announce that we have reached an important milestone. More than 20,000 people have downloaded it. Clearly, this tool is making it easier for residents to get prepared.

Severe weather can strike at any moment. Get Ready now.

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I Got Involved, You Can Too

Dec 21st, 2011 by

Nearly a year and a half ago, I was approached by a group of individuals in my Lake Arrowhead neighborhood in Cherokee County who were interested in teaming together to form a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). With little hesitation, I signed up to be a part of the group. Lake Arrowhead is an isolated community that is hard to reach in certain weather conditions, so we knew we needed to be able to respond to an emergency while waiting for responders to get to us. Therefore, we wanted to train and prepare ourselves to respond to a disaster within our community.

I’ve always been aware of the importance of emergency planning and preparedness, but seeing the devastating impact of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina helped motivate me to get more involved. I considered the offer to join CERT an opportunity to make a difference in the community and help my friends and neighbors be better prepared for whatever may come our way.

One way our local CERT team made a difference was by organizing a preparedness fair in July 2011. The event received outstanding support from the Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), local first responders, and participating vendors. Cherokee County’s Safe Kids Program brought child safety programs. Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services and our local volunteer fire department brought equipment. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office brought its SWAT Team and mobile command post. Even the Georgia National Guard and Georgia State Defense Force brought teams.

The fair provided a worthwhile experience to the 400 individuals who attended and the vendors, many of which sold out of preparedness supplies and equipment and agreed to participate again. Emergency responders and preparedness experts were excited to interface and share knowledge with the public. Most importantly, the people who attended expressed that they benefited tremendously from the available resources and activities.

The biggest benefit from my CERT involvement is the satisfaction I take in knowing that people in the community are thinking more about getting themselves prepared, taking action to be ready for a disaster, and spreading the word about the importance of getting ready. Events such as the Lake Arrowhead Preparedness Fair help attract more CERT volunteers to play a role in making sure the community is prepared. Our local CERT group grew from four members to nearly 50 active volunteers during the 16 months that I’ve been involved.

Getting involved helps individuals gain a better understanding of what can happen in a disaster and what happens to the availability of professional resources when the county is overwhelmed. That’s why it’s important to become familiar with the steps necessary to respond to potential emergencies and responders – it can be life-saving.

CERT helps you plan for yourself, your family and your community. It doesn’t take much to get involved and isn’t an activity for the “super prepared.” Anyone can join. After a few days of fun but comprehensive training and drills, the average person will know the basics and understand what they need to do in case of an emergency, and more importantly, how to help their neighbors and better work with the professional responders when they are able to get to their community.

CERT is one of the fastest growing types of volunteer organizations in the county. More people are signing up to become a part of emergency response teams in their community. I got involved and you can too. To learn more about CERT in your community, visit the Citizen Corps website.

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Happy Holidays from Ready Georgia

Dec 12th, 2011 by

‘Tis the season for gift giving, and Ready Georgia is getting into the spirit. One of our “Get Ready” readers will receive a $100 kit of emergency supplies courtesy of our sponsor, The Home Depot.

Home Depot Ready kit

To be entered to win, we want you to tell us how you’ll customize the kit when you win it. Notable Georgians from Atlanta Falcon Ovie Mughelli to Habitat for Humanity CEO Jonathan Reckford have told us what’s in their kit. So what will you put in yours?

Here are a few ideas:

  • A copy of your favorite novel, to help pass the time
  • Your favorite nonperishable snack food – peanut butter, anyone?
  • Personalized water bottles for each member of the family
  • A first aid kit that includes bandages with your kids’ favorite cartoon characters
Comment below with your idea for putting your personal touches on your Ready kit, and you’ll automatically be entered to win. Good luck, and happy holidays from Ready Georgia!
Contest details:

• PRIZE:  One emergency supply kit from The Home Depot and Ready Georgia
• TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling us how you’ll customize your Ready kit
• GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, December 21 at Noon (Eastern)
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
• PRIZE SHIPS: State of Georgia only
• RULES: Open to Georgia residents only. One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winner will be selected using random.org and notified via email.

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It’s National Family Caregivers Month! Help Special Needs and Elderly Loved Ones Prepare.

Nov 16th, 2011 by

In recognition of National Family Caregivers Month, Ready Georgia honors caregivers across the nation for providing support to their elderly or special needs loved ones. Moreover, the preparedness campaign wants to remind Georgians that caring for loved ones also means contributing to their well-being by helping them prepare for emergencies.

In this episode, Laura George, a caregiver to her husband, shares insight on helping to get elderly and special needs loves one ready for emergencies. To learn more about emergency preparedness for family members with unique needs, tune in for preparation tips on how to help your family and friends who are in need of care.

A transcript of this podcast can be found here.

 
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The Times, They Are a-Changin’

Nov 1st, 2011 by

Clock faceThis weekend (2 a.m. Sunday, to be exact), Daylight Savings Time comes to an end. For most of us, that means we get an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night and can start our days with the morning light. In exchange, our evening commute will now be done under the cover of darkness.

As you walk through your house changing your clocks this weekend, it’s also a good time to do an emergency preparedness check. Start with your smoke alarms. Test them to make sure they’re working, and replace the batteries if they’re more than a year old.

Next, take a look at your Ready kit:

  • Check expiration dates on your food, water and medications. Use foods before they go bad, and replace them with fresh supplies.
  • Throw out any canned good that is swollen, dented or corroded.
  • Check your equipment. Is your battery-powered radio working? When was the last time you replaced the batteries in your flashlight and your NOAA weather radio? Follow the same rule of thumb as you do for your smoke alarm – replace the batteries at least once a year.
  • Re-think your needs. Is someone in the family on medication now that they weren’t taking a year ago? Have you added a family member, or a pet? Take these and other lifestyle changes into account, and update your kit as needed.

Once you’ve taken a few minutes to refresh your Ready kit, make sure you take a quick look at your family emergency plan too. Log on to your personal profile on the Ready Georgia website, or use the Ready Georgia mobile app. Update medical information, phone numbers and any other details that may have changed during the past year. Then make sure your family knows where you will go and how you will get in touch with another in case of an emergency.

As the days get shorter, it’s a sign that winter is just around the corner. With the change of seasons comes a whole new set of potential hazards. So make sure you and your family are Ready.

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FAQs for Fire Safety Month

Oct 24th, 2011 by

October is Fire Safety Month, and to help Georgians prepare for fires, Ready Georgia interviewed Thomas Bartlett, Deputy Fire Chief for Fayette County. Household fires kill more than 4,000 people every year, and many of those deaths are preventable. Chief Bartlett provides some important information on the most common causes of fires and best practices for preventing them.

Firefighters fight a house fireWhat is the most important thing to know about fire safety?

Learn it young and look for ways to refresh your knowledge. Complacent adults adapt to the “it won’t happen to me” mentality. As with anything else, fire safety changes with technology. Seek out new information and ways to make your home environment safer.

What should you remember if you need to get out of a burning building quickly?

Prior to the fire, you should have an escape plan, an established meeting place and have practiced the plan. Once a fire is discovered or a smoke detector is activated, use the plan, crawl low under smoke, get out and stay out, and report to your designated meeting place.

What is one of the most misunderstood things about fire safety?

That if a fire occurs in a building with sprinklers, they all go off. In fact, only the head or heads that are in the fire area go off. Sprinkler heads are activated by heat. Once the head opens it will discharge until the system is shut down. Homeowners building new homes or completing major renovation have the opportunity to place residential sprinklers into the home. Residential and commercial sprinklers are like having a firefighter on duty at your location 24/7. For the cost, a residential system is great peace of mind and an insurance discount.

What are some of the most common ways fires start?

Cooking left unattended, heating sources to close to combustible material and candles are the most common fire starters in our area.

What are some things you can do to make your home safer from fires?

Don’t leave open flames (like candles) or items cooking on the stove unattended even for just a few seconds. Be aware of your surroundings when using heating sources and the proximity of the source to a combustible. Have your fireplace and chimney checked annually prior to cold weather. Check smoke detectors monthly and change the batteries semi-annually with the time change.

If something does not look right or smell right, most likely it’s not. Call the local fire department to come out and assist you in evaluating your problem. The fire department would rather come out and check the situation than to come out later for a significant fire.

For more information about household fire safety, visit Ready Georgia’s website.

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Enhancing Preparedness in the Hispanic Community

Oct 14th, 2011 by

In this episode, Ready Georgia recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month by providing tips and resources to help enhance the level of preparedness in the Hispanic community. Robert Garcia of the National Weather Service also shares his own insight to assist Hispanic residents getting ready for the unexpected.

To learn more ways to prepare the Hispanic community, take a look at our guest blog post featuring WRDW’s Amanda Perez. In the meantime, tune in to discover ways to be your own first responder in case of an emergency.

 
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Prepare for Wild Weather and Other Unexpected Emergencies

Oct 7th, 2011 by

Branches heavy with ice in front of a stop signFrom tornadoes and ice storms to wildfires and earthquakes, it’s been a wild year of weather in the state of Georgia. And with hurricane season still under way, there’s no telling what may occur in the months ahead.  That’s why it’s so critical to take the time to prepare your homes, workplaces and communities for disasters and emergencies of all kinds.

As a corporate sponsor of the Ready Georgia campaign, we at The Home Depot take emergency preparedness seriously. Our goal during any disaster: be the last outlet to close and the first to open. To make that happen, we have a detailed business continuity plan and extensive disaster response team in place to handle whatever comes our way. In an emergency situation, this team assembles in a command center at headquarters to help oversee information technology, merchandising, human resources, security and supply chain executives.

Your goal during a disaster is probably something much simpler, but every bit as important: keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Fortunately, that doesn’t require a command center and teams of trained professionals. It just requires about an hour of your time to create a Ready kit and a family communications plan, and to make sure that everyone in your family knows what to do in case of an emergency.

Unfortunately, despite all the extreme weather of late, GEMA research indicates that a majority of Georgians are still not fully prepared for an emergency. In addition, many businesses do not have adequate plans or operations set up to maintain productivity during these disasters. We all have a responsibility in protecting ourselves, our families and our communities.

Remember, disasters can strike with little or no warning. Get Ready for whatever may come your way.

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Get Your Emergency Information “To Go”

Sep 21st, 2011 by

App Home PageSince the beginning of the Ready Georgia campaign in 2008, technology has played a key role in helping Georgians prepare, plan and stay informed. Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the Ready Georgia website and social media channels, where they have been able to access customized tools and emergency preparedness information.

Today we have added an exciting new tool to our technological bag – the Ready Georgia mobile app. This free application is loaded with easy-to-use features that put a Ready kit checklist, customized family emergency plan and localized severe weather and public health alerts in the palm of your hand. You can also check historic weather data for your county, as well as your current flood risk.

The app’s unique mapping feature lets you locate open Red Cross shelters in your area, check nearby stream gauge levels and view the location of every tornado touchdown for the past 50 years.There’s even a bit of trivia, with the “Today in Hazard History” feature that shares historic weather events for every day of the year.

Developing a mobile app is no small task. It has taken us many months to create this tool, but we believe that the effort is well worth it. There is an ever-increasing demand for information on mobile platforms, and we and our partners at the Department of Public Health are glad to be ahead of the curve in meeting that need. In fact, Georgia is the first state to offer a complete readiness mobile application for its residents.

The Ready Georgia mobile app is just one way you can make technology part of your emergency preparedness game plan. Here are a few more techno tips:

  • Text, don’t talk. Following the recent East Coast earthquake, the Department of Homeland Security sent out an important reminder via its official Twitter feed: “Tell friends/family you are OK via text, email and social media.” Text messages require less bandwidth than phone calls, which reduces the strain on the network and makes it possible for more people to get in touch with loved ones. Too many phone calls at one time can jam a cellular network, reducing everyone’s ability to communicate.
  • Go to the cloud. In addition to storing paper copies of important records in a water and fire-proof box, consider your options for backing up important electronic records. Store your personal and financial records in the cloud or on a secure and remote area or flash or jump drive that you can keep readily available so they can be accessed from anywhere.
  • Stay connected to Ready Georgia. Stay informed by adding this blog to your RSS reader, by becoming a fan on the Ready Georgia Facebook page and by following the GEMA Twitter feed.

For more information about using technology to get Ready, visit Get Tech Ready. This new web resource was launched just last month and is a collaboration between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the American Red Cross, the Ad Council and Google Crisis Response on behalf of the national Ready campaign.

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This September: A Time to Remember. A Time to Prepare.

Sep 9th, 2011 by

First responder at Ground ZeroThis September marks the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 and I encourage you to take time to remember those lost as well as time to make sure you are prepared for future emergencies. September is also National Preparedness Month (NPM), which was founded after 9/11 to increase preparedness in the U.S. It is a time to prepare yourself, your family and even your business for an unexpected emergency.

If you’ve seen the news recently, you know that emergencies can happen unexpectedly in communities just like yours, to people like you. Across Georgia in recent years we’ve seen tornado outbreaks, floods, crippling ice storms, and even power outages affecting thousands of people for days at a time.

This September, please prepare and plan in the event you must go for three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or local services for several days. Just follow these three steps:

1. Prepare: Make a kit with enough emergency supplies on hand for you and those in your care – water, non-perishable food, first aid, prescriptions, flashlight, battery-powered radio. Create a customized checklist of supplies on the Ready Georgia website.

2. Plan: Discuss, agree on, and document an emergency plan with your family. Work together with neighbors, colleagues and others to build community resilience.

3. Stay Informed: Find out what to do before, during, and after an emergency. Contact your local emergency management agency to get essential information on specific hazards to your area, local plans for shelter and evacuation, ways to get information before and during an emergency, and how to sign up for emergency alerts if they are available.

Police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly, such as if trees and power lines are down or if they’re overwhelmed by demand from an emergency. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover. Once you’ve prepared for yourself and your family, think about your neighbors and do what you can to help them prepare as well.

Take time this September to remember, and to prepare.

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