September is National Preparedness Month and the UH Emergency Management Bureau has committed to participate in efforts to increase preparedness throughout the United States.

The event, now in its ninth year, is a nationwide, month-long effort hosted by the Ready Campaign and Citizen Corps, encouraging households, businesses and communities to prepare and plan for emergencies.

The UH Emergency Management Bureau is participating this year by sharing disaster-preparedness information through various outreach activities on campus, including through social media and press releases. In addition, the bureau is hosting its campus emergency response team training beginning Sept. 27.

One of the key messages of National Preparedness Month is to be prepared in the event an emergency causes you to be self-reliant for three days without utilities and electricity, water service, access to a supermarket or local services, or maybe even without response from police, fire or rescue. Preparing can start with four important steps:

1. Be informed about emergencies that could happen in your community, and identify sources of information in your community that will be helpful before, during and after an emergency.
2. Make a plan for what to do in an emergency.
3. Build an emergency supply kit.
4. Get involved.

Preparedness is a shared responsibility - it takes a whole community. This year's National Preparedness Month focuses on turning awareness into action by encouraging all individuals and all communities nationwide to make an emergency preparedness plan. Preparedness information and events will be posted here.

By following the UH Emergency Management Bureau on Facebook and Twitter or attending the upcoming CERT class, you can learn steps to be prepared. Emergency Management Director Joe Mendez urges the campus community to get prepared.

"It's important to take the four simple steps today in order to prepare for emergencies that could happen tomorrow," Mendez said.

This is the third year that UH EMB has participated in NPM.

For more information about the Ready Campaign and National Preparedness Month, visit
http://community.fema.gov/connect.ti/READYNPM or call 1-800-BE-READY, 1-888-SE-LISTO, and TTY 1-800-462-7585.

Like UH Emergency Management on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UHEMB

Follow UH EMB on Twitter at www.twitter.com/uhemb

If you have any questions regarding emergency preparedness, email Kelly Boysen at krboysen@uh.edu.