This Citizen Corps News Digest is provided by FEMA's Individual & Community Preparedness Division to highlight community preparedness and resilience resources and activities recently announced by federal agencies and Citizen Corps partners.

DHS -FEMA Updates

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Resolve to be Ready in 2013

Make emergency preparedness a New Year's resolution. With the start of a new year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is reminding Americans to Resolve to be Ready for emergencies in 2013 through a national public awareness campaign. Led by FEMA's Ready campaign in partnership with Citizen Corps and the Ad Council, this year's emphasis includes integrating smartphones into preparedness plans . As a simple resolution, the Ready campaign is encouraging smartphone owners (more than half of mobile phone owners in the U.S.) to turn the technology in their purses and pockets into a life-saving tool during and after an emergency or disaster.

Through the use of everyday smartphone technology, individuals, families, responders and organizations can successfully prepare for, adapt to and recover from disruptions brought on by emergencies and/or disasters. Emergencies can strike with little or no warning but by making this resolution and following simple steps to prepare in advance, Americans are more likely to know what to do in an emergency, such as winter storms and power outages.

For more information visit Ready.gov and Citizen Corps or follow the campaign on Twitter using the hashtag #R2BR2013.

A Sprinkle of Fire Safety

During winter, the chance of home fires increases. Having home fire sprinklers not only saves lives , but can increase chances of surviving a fire by more than 82 percent. Additionally, they can decrease home damage up to 97 percent. Best of all, fire sprinklers are a low cost way to help save lives if a fire does happen.

For other fire safety tips, visit the U.S. Fire Administration website.

Combat a Winter Storm

Over the past couple of weeks, several states across the country contended with strong winter storms, tornadoes and power outages. Normally when a winter storm is imminent, the National Weather Service will issue a winter storm warning or blizzard warning 6 to 18 hours before the storm strikes. This warning is a signal to take the necessary precautions to keep you and your loved ones safe. Start preparing today before a winter storm warning is even issued with the following steps:

• Update your emergency kit with winter weather items.
• Keep up with your local forecast at www.weather.gov or mobile.weather.gov on your phone.
• Review your family communications plan .
• Purchase a NOAA Weather Radio or download one of the many apps offering a NOAA Weather Radio signal and alerts.

Follow us on Twitter for other winter storm preparedness tips.

Dates for Your Calendar!

• January is Winter Storm Preparation Month
• January 12: Haiti earthquake three-year anniversary
• January 21: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
• January 8-13: International Disaster Conference and Expo , New Orleans, LA
• March 12-15: Public Health Preparedness Summit , Atlanta, GA

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FEMA Major Disaster Declarations Update

Ohio Hurricane Sandy
Major Disaster Declaration number 4098 on Jan 03, 2013

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About FEMA

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.