Do you live in a Tsunami Zone, a Flood Basin, or in Tornado Alley? We are right in the middle of earthquake country... sure, we could move, but we don't.

According to Discovery News, we humans may be willing to put daily pleasure ahead of the threat of long-term disaster when selecting where to live, a new international study suggests. Study co-author Professor Ben Newell, of the University of NSW, said the research examined how people would react to being told of a predicted increase in the risk of natural disasters with climate change. Professor Newell, from the School of Psychology, said it was surprising how little weight participants in the study gave to disaster threat.

Most Americans live within 25 miles of their mothers, according to a study co-authored by an economics researcher and Robert A. Pollak, Ph.D., at Washington University in St. Louis.

Alarmingly, according to the article "Calculated Risk: Why People Live in Disaster Zones" There was also a tendency after a disaster had hit for some people to move into that area, which is consistent with a kind of thinking that lightning isn’t going to strike in the same spot twice... not very sound reasoning.

Disaster, Survival, & Preparation!
Think about preparedness; at home, at work, at school, even in your car.
What should you do? Check your Emergency Plan and Evacuation Routes everywhere you normally spend time. Make sure you have an out of State contact for you, your friends and your family (long distance phone service is usually restored before local - and mobile services and internet will likely not work in a major disaster.)
Of course, too, you should Check your Emergency Supplies:
Count your stock... is it enough?
Check your expiration dates (food, water, batteries)
Keep cash on hand
Don't let your gas tank get below half-full
Think-Plan-Prepare-Survive!
Survival Gear: Disaster, Emergency Preparedness, Camping & Survival Supply
72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Supplies for Earthquake, Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Nuclear Disasters, Wilderness Survival & More… C.E.R.T. & F.E.M.A.

While businesses and community groups often focus on preparedness, oftentimes, households are themselves unready - is your home ready?

During National Preparedness Month Be Sure You Are READY!

Household Disaster Preparedness: Influences of Preparedness Knowledge and Beliefs — United States, 2015

Prepare!

Understanding people’s knowledge and beliefs regarding household disaster preparedness might make public-health messages promoting household preparedness more effective. It is believed that knowledge influences behavior, and that attitudes and beliefs, which are correlated with knowledge, might also influence behavior. To determine the association between knowledge and beliefs and household preparedness, CDC analyzed baseline data from Ready CDC, a personal disaster preparedness intervention piloted within the CDC workforce during 2013–2015. Compared with persons with basic preparedness knowledge, persons with advanced knowledge were more likely to have assembled an emergency kit (44 percent versus 17 percent), developed a written household disaster plan (9 percent versus 4 percent), and received county emergency alert notifications (63 percent versus 41 percent). Similarly, beliefs about preparedness affected household preparedness behaviors.

• How to Prepare Your Home for Winter
• Hurricane Preparedness: Prepare Your Home Before a Hurricane
• Disaster Preparedness: The Return Home
• Preparing your Information Go-Bag

We share a lot of our own suggestions and advice culled from decades of experience in lifesaving and disaster preparation for our clients. Today we'd like to share a post from another author.

There are four steps you should take before a disaster:

1. Find out what could happen to you.
2. Create a disaster plan
3. Complete the checklist
4. Practice and maintain your plan.

Disaster, Survival, & Preparation!
Think about preparedness; at home, at work, at school, even in your car.
What should you do? Check your Emergency Plan and Evacuation Routes everywhere you normally spend time. Make sure you have an out of State contact for you, your friends and your family (long distance phone service is usually restored before local - and mobile services and internet will likely not work in a major disaster.)
Of course, too, you should Check your Emergency Supplies:
Count your stock... is it enough?
Check your expiration dates (food, water, batteries)
Keep cash on hand
Don't let your gas tank get below half-full
Think-Plan-Prepare-Survive!
Survival Gear: Disaster, Emergency Preparedness, Camping & Survival Supply
72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Supplies for Earthquake, Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Nuclear Disasters, Wilderness Survival & More… C.E.R.T. & F.E.M.A.

Disasters occur in the United States with regularity. What will you do before, during, and after a disaster? Before a disaster, you should know how to respond, plan your escape, locate supplies, develop an emergency communications plan, and set up an emergency pen for pets. During a disaster, you should listen to a battery-powered radio or TV or instructions. After the disaster, you should turn off all utilities if there is time. If you need to evacuate leave as soon as possible, but leave a note saying where you are going. You should notify emergency responders for injured or trapped people. Finally, you should return home only after authorities advise it is safe to do so. Read more on Family Disaster Planning by Fred Fanning

On Thursday, February 26 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, emergency managers will host a special TweetChat titled “What is America’s PrepareAthon! and How to Participate.” Join the chat to learn more about this national, grassroots campaign for action to increase community preparedness and resilience through hazard-specific group discussions, drills, and exercises.

During the conversation, you can also connect with preparedness groups, businesses, emergency managers, and city officials about the campaign, disaster preparedness efforts, and how to take action. Hear from communities and organizations around the country who have participated in America’s PrepareAthon! activities previously or are planning to participate in an upcoming event. Ask questions related to preparing your own community, and begin planning your own America’s PrepareAthon! event.

Join in or follow along using #PrepareAthon. You can also help spread the word about the TweetChat on your social media outlets by sharing this message: “We’re joining the #PrepareAthon conversation on 2/26 at 2PM ET to learn how to increase community preparedness and so should you!”

Disaster, Survival, & Preparation!
Think about preparedness; at home, at work, at school, even in your car.
What should you do? Check your Emergency Plan and Evacuation Routes everywhere you normally spend time. Make sure you have an out of State contact for you, your friends and your family (long distance phone service is usually restored before local - and mobile services and internet will likely not work in a major disaster.)
Of course, too, you should Check your Emergency Supplies:
Count your stock... is it enough?
Check your expiration dates (food, water, batteries)
Keep cash on hand
Don't let your gas tank get below half-full
Think-Plan-Prepare-Survive!
Survival Gear: Disaster, Emergency Preparedness, Camping & Survival Supply
72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Supplies for Earthquake, Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Nuclear Disasters, Wilderness Survival & More… C.E.R.T. & F.E.M.A.

OK - so we're already FedEx fans... we get great rates to pass on to our customers, and we have an awesome Rep that takes special care of us... but this impressed us:

While it is in FedEx's own interest to send out Service Alerts such as the above warning of possible service interruptions and delays, they have no direct business purpose in offering Disaster Preparedness tips and checklists, but they do anyway.

They take the extra time to post and share disaster safety information and links to sites like the National Weather Service to help people stay informed.  Good business. Good PR, Good for you FedEx.

Here's their Emergency Preparedness Checklist for Small Businesses:

Developing an emergency preparedness plan is one of the most important strategic decisions you will make as a small business owner. Consider how a natural, human-caused or public health disaster could affect your employees, customers and workplace. Would business operations continue? Preparing your small business doesn’t have to be time consuming or expensive. Ask yourself the three questions below and use this checklist to help you prepare your business to stay in business.

1. How vulnerable would your business be if a disaster or other emergency were to occur?

? Know your region and the types of disaster most likely to have an impact on your
business.

• Find out what emergencies have occurred in the past and what impact these had on other businesses in your area.
• Consider your facility’s physical capacity to resist damage and proximity to flood plains, seismic faults, dams, hazardous materials, nuclear power plants and other hazards.
• Consult with your insurance agent and learn what coverage is available and what precautions to take for disasters that may impact your business. Remember, many general policies do not cover earthquake and flood damage.

? Assess the capacity of your employees to prepare for and respond to an emergency.

• Are 10- 15 percent of your employees trained in basic first-aid and CPR techniques? Do all employees know how to identify individuals who are trained?
• Are employee roles clearly defined in the event of a disaster or emergency?

? Identify external emergency response resources that will provide assistance during a disaster or other emergency. Who will you contact in an emergency and what will they be able to provide?

• Local and state police.
• Fire department and emergency medical services organizations.
• Local government officials, emergency management office.
• Local American Red Cross chapter.
• National Weather Service.
• Telephone, water, gas and electric companies.
• Neighboring businesses.

2. What is your plan to protect the business and its employees before, during and after an emergency?

? Identify a First Aid team. Approximately 10-15 percent of your workforce should be trained in first aid and CPR so that they can assist in times of disaster or emergency until help arrives.

? Obtain necessary safety equipment. Budget for and purchase any safety equipment, first-aid kits, Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and shelter-in-place supplies that may be needed. Make sure employees know how to use and access these supplies.

? Write a plan for responding to emergencies. Your plan should include:

• A system for warning employees about emergencies and communicating with employees and local emergency management officials during a disaster or emergency.
• Considerations for the special needs of employees with disabilities and medical conditions.
• Evacuation routes from your facility and an established location where employees should gather.
• Provisions and a location for employees to shelter-in-place.

? Develop a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP). This plan will help keep your business operating as it responds and recovers from the effects of a disaster or emergency situation. Here’s how to start developing a COOP:

• Establish procedures for COOP activation.
• Identify essential business functions and staff to carry out these functions.
• Establish procedures with suppliers, vendors and other businesses critical to daily operations.
• Create a plan for conducting business if the facility is not accessible and set up electronic back up systems for vital business files.
• Identify records and documents that must be readily accessible to perform essential functions and decide where these can be stored safely and retrieved quickly.

3. What can we do to integrate emergency preparedness procedures into our every day business operations?

? Educate Employees. Consider partnering with community organizations to help create comprehensive preparedness training. All employees should know:

• Their role during a disaster and the roles and responsibilities of key personnel at your facility.
• Warning and communication procedures.
• Evacuation and shelter-in-place procedures.

? Practice Your Plan. Practice makes perfect. Conduct regular evacuation, COOP activation and shelter-in-place drills.

• Use the drills to assess the readiness of your employees and your facility.
• Involve both personnel and community responders in the evaluation process and use lessons learned to improve procedures and increase training as needed.

? Encourage personal preparedness among employees. Your employees will be better able to help your business respond and recover from an emergency if they know how to prepare their homes and families.

• Offer first aid, CPR, AED and preparedness training
• Encourage your employees and their families to:
• Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed. A free online education module is available to help them at www.redcross.org/BeRedCrossReady.
• Encourage employees to identify alternative routes for going to and from your facility.
• Remind employees to always keep their emergency contact information current.

? Help your community get prepared. Work with local community groups and government officials to ensure that your community is prepared for disasters and other emergencies.

• Host blood drives.
• Work with your local Red Cross chapter to train community disaster education volunteers to conduct preparedness presentations.
• Contribute supplies and/or services to emergency efforts.
• Adopt a local school or school district and support their emergency preparedness programs.

Are you ready to Bug Out or Bunker in?

Participating in America’s PrepareAthon! is easy and inexpensive. Your organization can participate in several ways:

• Hold discussions and drills to explain workplace plans and policies and to motivate your employees, students, congregants, and volunteers to be better prepared at home.
• Conduct a table-top exercise with leaders and managers to take steps as an organization to increase your readiness.
• Promote America’s PrepareAthon! throughout your networks.

*** Don’t miss all our great Disaster Preparedness Articles, Tips, Survival Plans, Guides and Emergency Preparedness Recommendations in the National Preparedness Month Blog