America's PrepareAthon! Spring 2015 Social Media Toolkit
Help spread the word about America's PrepareAthon! with our Spring 2015 Social Media Toolkit . This toolkit is designed for individuals and organizations to use their social media channels to promote the campaign, share their preparedness activities, and join the conversation leading up to April 30 National PrepareAthon! Day .
The toolkit includes sample Facebook posts, Instagram messages, and tweets to build momentum for America's PrepareAthon! We encourage you to share this content at least twice a week and more frequently as National PrepareAthon! Day approaches.
The toolkit also offers guidance to help you organize a Twitter chat. Twitter chats are planned virtual gatherings hosted in real time on Twitter. They're normally moderated, or guided, by one user to start a conversation on a certain topic. The chat is given a hashtag, such as #PrepareAthon, to make it easy for anyone to identify the chat and participate.
Think about hosting a Twitter chat to share your emergency preparedness expertise and build excitement around your preparedness activities today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Turn Around, Don't Drown
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flooding is the second leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the United States. Most of these deaths occur when a vehicle is driven through flooded roadways. Other lives can be lost when people walk into flood waters.
T his happens because many people underestimate the power of water. According to the CDC, it only takes six inches of fast-moving water to knock over an adult and 18 inches of flowing water to carry away most vehicles, including SUVs. Also, it is impossible to tell the exact depth of water covering a road or the condition of road beneath the water, especially at night when vision is limited.
Play it safe! When you come to a flooded road, path or walkway, follow this rule: Turn Around, Don't Drown. The National Weather Service (NWS) developed the “Turn Around, Don't Drown” Campaign to educate people about the dangers of driving or walking through flood waters.
To learn more about flooding hazards, check out this informative NWS public service announcement .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Family Preparedness Webinar: Meet Our Panelists
On Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 2 P.M. Eastern Time America's PrepareAthon! is hosting a webinar , “Easy Ways to Help Prepare Your Family for Disasters.” The webinar panelists are mothers and well-known bloggers. They will offer valuable insights on preparedness and give their perspective on actions you can take before a disaster strikes. Let's meet our panelists:
Shelle Wells is a preparedness enthusiast and blogger who is passionate about spreading the disaster preparedness message. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and started her blog in 2012 during National Preparedness Month which takes place every September. Shelle works to “take the scared out of being prepared” by offering readers easy-to-do preparedness skills on her website three times a week. For the webinar, Shelle will discuss how to assemble and update your emergency supplies with a shopping checklist. Follow Shelle on Twitter at @PreparednessMa .
Erica Mueller is the owner of the Mom Prepares website. In addition, she is a part-time web developer who has a love for all things information technology. Erica is a huge fan of cloud computing, especially when it comes to backing up important documents, files, and photos. For the webinar, Erica has chosen to discuss how to collect and safeguard critical documents using both physical and online solutions. Follow Erica and her website team on Twitter at @MomPrepares .
Tanya Ferraro is no stranger to disaster preparedness. She is the Training and Exercise Coordinator for the Fairfax County Health Department. In addition, she coordinated three Medical Reserve Corps units from southwest to central Virginia. She is a member of Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and a champion of the Virtual Operations Support Team (VOST) model in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Tanya is passionate about educating, motivating, and training others to care about their own preparedness. During the presentation, Tanya will discuss how to develop and test emergency communications plans. Follow Tanya on Twitter at @tjlasagna .
Shelly Lopez-Gray works as a clinical nurse coordinator for Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women and a labor and delivery nurse for Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital. During the webinar, Shelly will discuss disaster preparedness for pregnant women and parents with infants. Follow Shelly on Twitter at @shellylopezgray .
We hope you're able to join the conversation. Closed captioning will be provided. Register today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Louisa County's PrepareAthon!
Last month, Louisa County Virginia public schools held their second America's PrepareAthon! event. Over the course of two days, more than 6,000 students participated in preparedness activities, including a statewide tornado drill. They also practiced sheltering-in-place.
Students at Jouett Elementary School learned about tornadoes and safety procedures. During mini-assemblies, students in kindergarten through fifth grade learned how to take shelter, identify early warning signs of a tornado, and make an emergency plan and kit with their families.
According to FEMA's Preparedness in America Survey , 70 percent of households develop an emergency plan and discuss how to increase their preparedness when school children bring preparedness materials home. During the assemblies, students also received the Ready Kids Tornado Fact Sheet and Family Communication Plan to discuss with their parents.
“We know the importance of being prepared,” said Dr. Deborah D. Pettit, Superintendent of Louisa County Public Schools. “America's PrepareAthon! has helped us continue to keep a focus on being ready for anything, and we appreciate the help we have received from FEMA.”
Louisa County is already planning to continue their participation in America's PrepareAthon! during National Preparedness Month in September and the Great Shakeout Earthquake Drill in October!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New Resource Guide Released to Help Law Enforcement Strengthen Relationships with Communities
Recently, two offices of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), worked together to develop and release a resource guide to help law enforcement officers build stronger community-police relations : t he Resource Guide for Enhancing Community Relationships and Protecting Privacy and Constitutional Rights .
For several years, BJA and COPS have been developing guides, publications, webinars, checklists, and tools to help law enforcement agencies engage more effectively with communities. This guide gathers all of these resources into a single comprehensive toolkit to better assist local police and sheriff's departments and other law enforcement agencies. For more information, please read the full press release .
Volunteer programs also help bring law enforcement agencies and communities closer together by offering citizens an opportunity to work with police officers and other law enforcement officials:
- National Neighborhood Watch , a division of the National Sheriffs' Association and a Citizen Corps partner program, unites law enforcement agencies, private organizations, and individual citizens in a nation-wide effort to reduce crime and improve local communities.
- Volunteers in Police Service provides support and resources for law enforcement agencies interested in developing a volunteer program for citizens who wish to volunteer their skills with a community law enforcement agency . The program is managed and implemented by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in partnership with BJA, and is also a Citizen Corps partner program.
FEMA's Individual and Community Preparedness Division has worked with BJA, the National Crime Prevention Council, and the International Association for Chiefs of Police to develop resources for local collaboration on law enforcement issues. These include:
A Resource Guide to Improve Your Community's Awareness and Reporting of Suspicious Activity : https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/24352
Improving the Public's Awareness and Reporting of Suspicious Activity : https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/24355
National Watch Groups Summit: Community Participation in Homeland Security : http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/29979
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dates for Your Calendar!
|
