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DHS and FEMA
Updates

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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

Be heard…Email comments or suggestions to us at cert@dhs.gov

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Save the Date: Family Preparedness Webinar

Get ready for an exciting conversation on emergency preparedness for the entire family, presented by four women who have one title in common—mother. These mothers and well-known bloggers will offer tips, actions, and insights on how to get your family prepared for disasters. Join the conversation via webinar on Thursday, April 16 at 2 PM Eastern Time.

The webinar, “ Easy Ways to Help Prepare Your Family for Disasters,” will feature preparedness information from:

Register for the webinar . This webinar will offer closed captioning.

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Be Recognized as a Participant in America's PrepareAthon!

Have you heard? The next National PrepareAthon! Day is less than a month away.  While you can participate in America's PrepareAthon! at any time during the year, the campaign promotes national days of action twice yearly to bring attention to our progress toward creating a more resilient nation. On Thursday, April 30, 2015 join millions of Americans taking steps to prepare for emergencies by participating in group discussions, drills, exercises, and trainings.

When people prepare and practice for an emergency in advance of the event, it makes a real difference in their ability to take immediate and informed action. This, in turn, enables them to recover more quickly. America's PrepareAthon! promotes ten ways to participate in preparedness:

  1. Sign up for local alerts and warnings, download apps, and/or check access for wireless emergency alerts;
  2. Develop and test emergency communications plans;
  3. Assemble or update emergency supplies;
  4. Learn about local hazards and conduct a drill to practice emergency response actions;
  5. Participate in a preparedness discussion, training, or class;
  6. Collect and safeguard critical documents;
  7. Document property and obtain appropriate insurance for relevant hazards;
  8. Make property improvements to reduce potential injury and property damage (mitigation);
  9. Hold a scenario-based continuity of operations tabletop exercise for your organization; or
  10. Plan with neighbors to help each other and share resources.

As you complete preparedness actions, please continue to register on the website, where you can now be recognized as a participant. When you submit your activity, click “yes” to be listed. You can also see individuals, communities and organizations who are taking action this spring to prepare for disasters. Just click the “America's PrepareAthon! Participants” tab located on the lower left side of the homepage.

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Get ‘Petpared' for Disasters

Calling all pet owners! The likelihood your pet will survive a disaster such as a flood or tornado depends largely on proper emergency planning. In support of America's PrepareAthon! , FEMA Region III is hosting a national #Petpared Challenge to prepare pets for emergencies. Take action and join in this activity now through May 8, 2015. There are several ways to participate , such as:

  • Download a pet preparedness mobile application (for example the American Red Cross Pet First Aid App or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals A pp );
  • Build a pet emergency supply kit;
  • ID your pet with a collar and tag or consider micro chipping;
  • Determine where you would evacuate with your pet as some public shelters may not accommodate animals; or
  • Create a buddy-system with a relative or friend to help each other's pets if one of you is away from home during an emergency.

Once you've completed an action, take a picture (or a selfie) of your #petpared pet and share it on Twitter or Instagram using hashtag #Petpared to help spread the word.

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Closing Soon: 2015 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Awards Application Period

There's still time to apply for FEMA's 2015 Individual and Community Preparedness Awards !

To be considered for this year's awards, all applications must be sent to citizencorps@fema.dhs.gov by April 10, 2015 at 11:59 PM E.T . and feature program activities occurring between January 1, 2014 and April 10, 2015.

Download an application form , and apply or nominate an individual or organization who inspires you today.  Applicants can be individuals or organizations that align with the following awards categories:

  • Outstanding Citizen Corps Council; 
  • Community Preparedness Heroes;
  • Awareness to Action;
  • Technological Innovation;
  • Outstanding Achievement in Youth Preparedness;
  • Preparing the Whole Community;
  • Outstanding Community Emergency Response Team Initiatives;
  • Outstanding Citizen Corps Partner Program; and 
  • Excellence in Volunteer Sustainability .

We look forward to hearing about the incredible work that individuals and organizations are doing to make their communities more resilient! For more information on how to apply, visit: http://www.ready.gov/citizen-corps/citizen-corps-awards .

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The University of Colorado Denver “Takes Preparedness By Storm”

The University of Colorado-Denver's (CU-Denver) Anschutz Medical Campus held a preparedness fair and first-ever campus-wide tornado drill on March 18, 2015 in support of America's PrepareAthon! The tornado drill was held on two of the university's Denver-area campuses.

The university brought together a variety of partners for the interactive preparedness fair, including state and local emergency management agencies, first response agencies, community-based organizations, and private sector sponsors. Attendees engaged in preparedness activities at different booths, such as building emergency kits, creating family communications plans and emergency financial plans, discussing local hazards, and downloading preparedness apps.

Using its emergency notification system and in-building announcements, CU-Denver reached nearly 32,000 students, faculty, and staff at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora and the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver for the event.

Prior to the drill, the university distributed tornado preparedness information to faculty and staff, who then worked to prepare students for the exercise. At 2 PM local time, text, email and phone call alerts were sent, indicating that campus-wide tornado drill was in effect. The drill was followed by in-building announcements telling students, faculty, and staff where to shelter-in-place.

Local media coverage of the event included Denver's FOX (KDVR-31) and CW (KWGN-2). You can also check out the hashtag #TakePreparednessByStorm on Twitter to see photos from the preparedness fair.

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Dates for Your Calendar!


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Disclaimer: The reader recognizes that the federal government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal events, entities, organizations, services or products. Please let us know about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that could be included in future newsletters by contacting: citizencorps@dhs.gov

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.

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