Hurricane Preparedness Week
It's Hurricane Preparedness Week! Now is a good time to plan how to protect your family during these powerful storms in advance of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins on June 1. The How to Prepare for a Hurricane guide from America's PrepareAthon! provides valuable information about planning for evacuation and shelter, and how to avoid flood waters and high winds during a hurricane. Taking a few simple, but important actions now can help you weather the storm and keep you and your family safe.
- If you are in the path of a major hurricane, authorities may advise you to evacuate from your home. On page 9 of the How to Prepare for a Hurricane guide, you'll find protective actions related to evacuation, including:
- If you have a car, keep a full tank of gas in it at all times;
- Leave early to avoid delays caused by long lines, high winds, and flooding;
- Follow official posted evacuation routes and do not try to take short cuts because roads may be blocked; and
- Remember the Five P's of Evacuation People, Prescriptions, Papers, Personal Needs, a nd Priceless Items.
If you are in an area without an evacuation notice, take shelter from high winds and flood waters by following these tips:
- Stay inside away from windows and glass doors. If you are in a mobile home or temporary structure, move to a sturdy building;
- For protection against high winds, go to a FEMA Safe Room , an ICC 500 storm shelter , or a small, interior, windowless room such as a bathroom or closet, on the lowest level not likely to flood; and
- If you are in an area that is flooding, move to a location on higher ground before floodwaters prevent your ability to leave.
Stay safe during and after a hurricane by avoiding floodwaters on roads, walkways, bridges, and on the ground. Turn Around, Don't Drown! Do not attempt to cross floodwater! The depth of the water is not always obvious; flood waters can hide damaged and washed out roadways, and only a few inches of moving water can knock an adult off their feet, and a foot of water can sweep away a large vehicle.
Take your disaster preparedness to the next level! America's PrepareAthon! has valuable resources to prepare for hurricanes , floods , earthquakes , wildfires , tornadoes , and winter storms .
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Post-Disaster Hygiene
Personal hygiene is critical to help prevent the spread of illness and disease especially during an emergency such as a flood, hurricane, or earthquake. Clean, safe water is essential for proper hygiene and handwashing, but can be difficult to find following a disaster.
If your tap water is unsafe, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend washing your hands with soap and water that has been boiled or disinfected .
To ensure your hands are washed properly, follow these steps from the CDC:
- Wet your hands with clean water (warm or cold) and apply soap;
- Rub your hands together to make a lather and scrub them well. Be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails;
- Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds;
- Rinse your hands well under water; and
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
According to the CDC, you should use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol if soap and water are not available. While this will reduce the number of germs on your hands, it will not eliminate all types of germs. Also, hand sanitizers are not effective on visibly dirty hands.
Washing your hands is the best way to reduce germs! Maintaining basic hygiene and taking extra steps to ensure cleanliness will help keep your disaster recovery safe and healthy.
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Protect Your Identity During Disasters
The disaster recovery process is often a gradual one that takes a lot of time and effort. While safety is a primary concern, you should also be mindful of another aspect of disasters identity theft scams. Scammers use the confusion of disasters to take advantage of those in need.
Though it can be hard to monitor everything that is taking place in the midst of an emergency, Equifax offers a few helpful rules to protect your identity, including:
- Stop your mail from being delivered! Mail can contain important and personal information. Leaving it in your mailbox for an extended amount of time leaves it vulnerable to thieves;
- Check your credit report as soon as you can after a disaster to inspect for suspicious activity;
- Protect your virtual assets. Only use secure, password protected Internet connections to check bank accounts, email, or other potentially sensitive websites; and
- Make a plan to protect your documents!
You can use the Be Smart. Protect Your Critical Documents and Valuables guide from America's PrepareAthon! to get started.
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NOAA Issues Call for Proposals for Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) has issued a call for proposals under the first federal funding opportunity for the new Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program. The coastal resilience grants program will support regional approaches to activities that build resilience of coastal regions, communities, and economic sectors to the negative impacts from extreme weather events, climate hazards, and changing ocean conditions.
The full federal funding opportunity is available at Grants.gov. Each proposal may request between $500,000 to $1 million in federal funds, and requires a 2:1 federal to non-federal funding cost share in either cash or in-kind matches. Applications are due by July 24, 2015 .
Eligible funding applicants include nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, regional organizations, private (for profit) entities and state, local, and tribal governments.
More information about the program can be found at: http://www.coast.noaa.gov/resilience-grant/ .
Also, the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service is administering a companion $4 million Coastal Ecosystem Resilience Grant Program to advance healthy and sustainable coastal ecosystems through habitat restoration. Details about this program are available at: www.habitat.noaa.gov/funding/coastalresiliency.html .
An informational webinar for both the Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program and the Coastal Ecosystem Resilience Grant Program will be held on June 2, 2015, from 3:00-4:00 PM ET.
For questions about NOAA's Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program, please contact Adam Stein at Adam.Stein@noaa.gov.
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Dates for Your Calendar!
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