Are you prepared for any potential emergency or disaster? If you answered yes, then you get a gold star in preparedness; if you answered no, let the North Royalton Community Emergency Response Team (NRCERT) help steer you in the right direction.

Sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Preparedness Month was created to educate people on the importance of being prepared for and to respond to all types of emergencies ranging from natural to man-made disasters. Every year FEMA picks a new theme to set the mood for the month’s campaign. For 2014 the theme is, “Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare.”

NRCERT would like to urge you to use this National Preparedness Month to prepare yourself and your family for both large scale and small scale events. Disasters can happen in any community. No community is immune to the threat of an emergency or disaster. Any type of event, whether it be on a smaller scale such as a localized power outage or a larger scale such as a terrorist attack, can be crippling to you and your family if you’re not prepared. Since these types of emergencies and disasters usually happen unexpectedly it is a good idea to always be prepared.
To help get you started, we suggest that you create a family communications plan. Most likely, someone in your family will be out at work, school, the store, etc. at the time of an emergency.

How to Create a Family Communications Plan:
• Have more then one way to get in touch just in case communication towers are down or overloaded.
• Teach everyone in your household how to send and receive simple text messages. Many times, if communications are overloaded, text messages can sometimes still get through.
• Make contact cards for each member of your household that contain important numbers such as everyone’s cell phone number and emergency contacts.
• Arrange for a local meeting place and an out-of-town meeting place such as with a relative or friend in case phones don’t work.

Connect with NRCERT on Facebook and check us out online at www.northroyaltoncert.org for more information and tips on how you and your family can get prepared.

Interested in joining NRCERT? Our next general meeting will be on September 24, at 7 p.m. in the Police Department Mayor’s Court.