National PrepareAthon! Day is coming April 30

America’s PrepareAthon! urges everyone to participate in activities to prepare for a wide array of hazards. They offers free guides, checklists and resources to help individuals, organizations and communities practice the simple, specific actions they can take for emergencies relevant to their area.

Here are examples of actions you can take, provided by National PrepareAthon! Day:

1. Create a family emergency communication plan. Visit ready.gov/prepare and download Be Smart. Take Part. Create Your Family Emergency Communication Plan. Collect the information you need, decide on the places you will meet in case of an emergency, share the information with your family, and practice your plan.
2. Download the FEMA app for disaster resources, weather alerts and safety tips. FEMA launched a new feature to its free mobile application that will enable users to receive push notifications to their devices to remind them to take important steps to prepare their homes and families for disasters. The application also provides a customizable checklist of emergency supplies, maps of open shelters and open recovery centers, tips on how to survive natural and manmade disasters, and weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations across the nation.
3. Sign up for local text alerts and warnings, get the latest forecast at weather.gov and download weather apps to stay aware of worsening weather conditions. Visit ready.gov/prepare and download Be Smart. Take Part. Know Your Alerts and Warnings to learn how sign up for local alerts and weather apps that are relevant for hazards that affect your area.
4. Gather important documents and keep them in a safe place. Have all of your personal, medical, and legal papers in one place, so you can evacuate without worrying about gathering your family’s critical documents at the last minute. Visit ready.gov/prepare and download Be Smart. Take Part. Protect Your Critical Documents and Valuables for a helpful checklist.

Visit the America’s PrepareAthon! website, ready.gov/prepare, to sign up and register your participation and find information on hazards, tools, and resources.