Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency explains the origins of National Preparedness Month and how it highlights the steps people can take to prepare for emergency situations.
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00:00September is National Preparedness Month. FEMA created this. When did it begin and what is the
00:06overall mission? So National Preparedness Month has been around since I think about 2004 and the
00:15focus is to try to highlight the importance of preparedness and the steps that people can take
00:22to protect themselves, to protect their families, to look out for their loved one.
00:27And what we have been doing year after year is really general messaging about the steps that
00:33people can do. I'm sure both of you have heard, you know, make that three-day kit of supplies
00:38that you can have ready to either take with you if you need to leave or something at home.
00:43But what we've done over the last couple of years is we've really started to target
00:47some of our more diverse populations to get more specific messaging that they can relate to,
00:54really encourage them to take the steps and the actions that they need in order to protect
00:58themselves. And what kind of emergency should everyone think about this month and how can
01:05people prepare at home? Well, you know, you were just talking about some of the weather systems
01:10that are out there and those are certainly, you know, things that we want to focus on during
01:16the peak of hurricane season, which is, you know, why we do this in September, because it's the
01:20peak of one of those busiest times. But I think as both of you know, I mean, our threats are
01:25year-round. And so people need to prepare for everything. We had one of our busiest springs
01:31this year with tornadoes and flash flooding. We've also had derechos. And now we have hurricane
01:37season and we see a lot of different systems that are developing out in the Atlantic. And so really,
01:43people need to take this as an opportunity to know what their risk is, where they live,
01:49what their unique risk is, and then what their personal needs are going to be, right? Do you
01:54need power to support a medical device or do you need refrigeration for medicine?
01:59And then build that plan for your risk and your personal needs.
02:04FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, thank you again for joining us.