Why Should You Prepare?

Disaster … every day, somewhere in the United States, it is poised to strike.  It might be a family in your neighborhood, burned out of their home … a distant community devastated by the terrifying force of a tornado …a powerful hurricane that cuts a trail of destruction across several states … or, in this troubled era of international unrest, it might be another terrorist attack, randomly spreading death and fear.

Imagine there has been a disaster in your community.

You desperately try to contact your family, but the roads are blocked

and phone lines are down.  You don’t know if your spouse has picked up the

children from daycare or if your teen is home alone or at soccer practice. 

You finally arrive home, but there is no power, no running water and no phones. 

How will you reconnect with your family?  Are they safe? 

The American Red Cross has been responding to situations like these for more than 120 years.  Our years of experience tell us that when families have already prepared a disaster plan they have a better chance of avoiding injury or fatality and are likely to recover more quickly from the effects of disaster. 

Will your family be ready when disaster strikes?

There are some simple, but vital tools that can help your family deal with a variety of emergency situations. 

• Do you have an emergency plan? 

• Have you assembled a disaster supplies kit? 

• Has at least one member of your family been trained in First Aid and CPR? 

• Have you donated your time to support safety and disaster preparedness programs in your community?

Unfortunately, our research shows that the majority of American families have not yet taken these simple steps. 

TogetherWe Prepare is a new initiative that promotes training, knowledge and incentives for our community, teaching families to protect themselves before an emergency occurs.  The program is based on five simple and effective actions:

• Make a Plan:  We encourage individuals and families to create a family disaster plan that includes evacuation plans and who to contact in the event of an emergency.

• Build a Kit:  We work to educate our communities about the importance of assembling a disaster supplies kit, which will contain the items that families may need if they are confined to their home during a disaster or if they must evacuate their homes on short notice.

• Get Trained: Every family should have at least one person trained in First Aid and CPR.  This training will be invaluable in treating survivable injuries when emergency services personnel may be overwhelmed by a major incident.

• Volunteer:  Last year more than one million Americans reached out to help their communities prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies as Red Cross volunteers.  And the demand for vital American Red Cross services and the committed volunteers to deliver them continues to grow.  And don't forget about getting involved in your neighborhood by engaging your neighbors in simple discussions about neighborhood preparedness!

• Give Blood:  Giving blood doesn't take much time, and each donation has the power to save as many as three lives. Because whole blood has a shelf life of only 42 days, it is important to be a regular and frequent donor.

Call to Action

Disaster -- natural or man-made, shatters the lives of all its victims. People rely on the Red Cross to see them through disasters, and we rely on the compassion, generosity and trust of the American people for support to get the job done. Part of the Red Cross mission is to help prepare people for emergencies and every day, and your local American Red Cross is working to ensure the safety of our communities. TogetherWe Prepare gives us the opportunity to work together in this effort. Building on the Red Cross's grassroots strength, we can influence preparedness efforts in our communities and throughout the nation.

Take action today. Talk with your family about your emergency plan; gather supplies to build a kit or sign up for a First Aid and CPR training course. Make a commitment to follow the TogetherWe Prepare actions…it could help you save a life, perhaps even your own.

American Red Cross services are free and we depend on the voluntary contributions from community members to help us do our work. Please also consider making a financial commitment to support the costs of providing emergency preparedness programs that can benefit everyone in our community.

No one can predict when or where the next disaster will strike, but we know that it will. Together, the American Red Cross and our community must be prepared to answer the call.