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380AEW Article

September is National Preparedness Month

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Eric Peterson
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The month of September is recognized as National Preparedness Month by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security.

380th Air Expeditionary Wing Airmen will see important emergency preparedness information posted in key locations and distributed to wing members on base at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.

Members of the 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Readiness and Emergency Management Flight will operate information booths to provide handouts and posters for Airmen to educate themselves on disaster preparedness measures to use on base during their deployment and also to provide to their loved ones at home.

The emergency managers hope the material will encourage wing members to heed the message provided by this year's campaign slogan, "Be disaster aware, take action to prepare."

"A lot of people are really unaware of what the hazards are," said Tech. Sgt. Elizabeth Powers, emergency management training, education and operations non-commissioned officer in charge. "People come out here and they see the desert and assume it doesn't rain, but we're actually prone to floods. That's not something people really even think about so there's no way for them to prepare for a disaster that they're really not aware of. So I think we need to make people more aware of the disasters that occur in the area."

Readiness flight members would like to remind 380th AEW personnel that our local area is also susceptible to experiencing extreme heat, earthquakes and sand storms.

For home-station preparedness, they encourage everyone to create a home disaster plan that includes an emergency supply kit stocked with water, food, medical supplies, cash and any important papers you may need.

"Another thing people forget to do when planning is actually exercise the plan," said Staff Sgt. Kendra Ketonen, 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer unit deployment manager and emergency manager. "They'll build a tote with all their supplies put inside it, they'll put their animal in a crate and they have it all together, but they never actually try to see if it all fits in their vehicle. That delays their evacuation time; they have to go through and reprioritize what can fit, what can't fit."

Airmen can visit their local base emergency management flight to obtain additional information on how to prepare for natural or man-made disasters.

"We'll be happy to help them out," said Ketonen. "That's our job as a career field is to make sure that everyone's prepared and ready to survive any kind of disaster that could happen."

Additional disaster preparedness resources can be found at the government websites www.ready.gov and www.beready.af.mil. Family members can also refer to city or county web pages for information on how best to prepare for disasters in their local area.

Readiness flight members have planned several events to help bring awareness to National Preparedness Month. They have scheduled to set up an information booth outside of the Oasis Dining Facility September 14. In addition, a scavenger hunt is scheduled to be held on September 17 and the "Outrun the plague" 5-K run is scheduled for September 26.