The Southeast Health Department took time to come into the Castle Country Radio to talk about National Preparedness Month, and how you, along with your family can be prepared for an emergency situation.

“One of the biggest things is to make a plan. Know what you are going to do. Make sure that you have a way to communicate with your friends and family, they’re all aware of that too. So if there is a disaster, you know when to communicate with them and what you need to do,” said Emergency Preparedness Director, Chet Ingram. There is a possibility that when disaster strikes your family may not be together or that cell towers may be down so establishing a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find is not a bad idea.

Having items readily available in case you have to evacuate or survive on your own for a couple of days is very important.  “Make sure that you have some belongings and a bag put together. Make sure that you have the essentials like medications. A lot of people don’t think about it but if you have pets, make sure you have some additional pet food for them. Clothing and just have it all available and ready to go, so if you need to grab it and go, you can,” stated Ingram. An emergency kit is another important item to have readily available. This kit can consist of food, water and other supplies to last several days.

Many folks tend to forget to have their vehicles readily available too. “There’s a lot of people that don’t think about it, but if your tank is on empty and you can’t get fuel what are you going to do? So you know, it’s always best to keep your vehicle at least above a half-tank of fuel, in case you need to go somewhere or you need to get out, and have them ready to go. You know make sure that your maintenance on your vehicles is all done and you have something reliable to get you out of the area if you need to go,” said Ingram. Preparing for unexpected emergencies will help alleviate nervousness in a stressful situation, along with keeping you and your family safe.

“Just remember that disasters don’t wait. There’s no telling when we’re going to have a flood, or we’ve had tornados in Utah before, you never know if we’ll get a tornado or an earthquake – they’re not going to wait. So make sure that you’re always prepared and ready to go for them. There’s no telling when one can happen, hopefully we don’t have them but if we do everybody needs to be prepared,” said Ingram. To learn more about National Preparedness Month visit the Southeast Utah Health Department website at https://www.seuhealth.com/