Be Prepared, Not Scared
National Preparedness Month
National Preparedness Month is observed each September in the U.S. and is sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). National Preparedness Month encourages citizens to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, schools, and communities. FEMA's Ready Campaign works to disseminate information to the general public about about disaster planning to help citizens learn how to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks.
The 2019 theme is "Prepared, Not Scared."
Since September 11, 2001, the US Government has taken steps to encourage all citizens to make their own survival preparations. September was chosen as National Preparedness Month, as the tragedies of September 11, 2001 highlighted to the nation the importance of being prepared. September is also a good month to promote disaster planning since mid-September is typically the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.
2019 has been another year for the history books in regard to extreme weather. See our 2019 Weather Review for a refresher.
Businesses Preparedness Planning
Businesses can face a variety of physical hazards such as:
- Natural hazards like fire, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and extreme temperatures like a heat wave or polar vortex.
- Human hazards including accidents, health epidemics, terrorism, or crime such as theft or vandalism.
- Technology-related hazards like power outages, cyber attacks, data breaches, or malfunctioning equipment (i.e. operating systems, servers, equipment or software)
Being well-informed about potential threats and how to deal with them is the first step to creating a reliable DR plan. If you have no recovery plan and no idea what to do in the event of an emergency or disaster, this will delay response, cost you time and allow for more loss.
How quickly a company is able to get back to business after a disaster often depends on emergency planning and prior preparation. The Ready Campaign highlights three steps to Business Disaster Preparedness:
- Plan to Stay in Business
- Train Your People
- Protect Your Investments & Assets
These steps underscore how important it is for businesses to document their property/equipment, back up business-critical information, and develop a response and recovery plan.
Developing a Technology Disaster Recovery Plan
With technology and data being such an integral part of our economy and business operations, it’s important you consider what kind of impact the loss of your technology might have on you or your work.
Do your back up your records on a computer? Do you have vital business information stored on a local server? Do you use a software to track electronic invoices, employee payroll, expenses, etc? What would you do if you were attacked with ransomware? What would happen if your equipment was damaged or destroyed by natural disaster or fire?
How would your business recover? Do you have an action plan in place? It's important that you take the proper steps to protect your data when disaster or misfortune strikes.
Take the first steps towards creating your own technology disaster recovery by reading our blogs series on Disaster Recovery.
It's not about "if" something will happen to you, it's "when" it will happen. Beat disaster by planning ahead!
“Over the past few years,[we] have seen the tremendous cost of extreme weather and flooding caused in part by climate change,” said Senator Peters. “National Preparedness Month serves as a reminder that we must be prepared for emergencies and make investments that will help reduce the toll that disasters take on our communities and families. As Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I’m proud to join FEMA in urging families in Michigan and across the country to ensure everyone stays safe when disaster strikes.”
U.S. Senator Gary C. Peters, Ranking Member,
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
National Preparedness Month 2019 Weekly Schedule
