September is National Preparedness Month
National Preparedness Month, recognized each September, provides an opportunity to remind us that we all must prepare ourselves and our families now and throughout the year. Throughout the month we will focus on planning, with an overarching theme: Disasters Happen. Prepare Now. Learn How.
Learn Life Saving Skills
When we think about live saving skills many of us immediately think of formal preparedness training such as first aid and CPR courses, personal safety and active violence training, and fire safety training. Life saving and preparedness skills go beyond formal training classes and encompass knowledge and abilities used to prepare for and deal with emergencies. Better knowledge and skills means better resilience. Being resilient can help us respond to and recover from crises and disasters that come our way.
The remainder of this preparedness series will focus on information and skills that can make you more resilient to emergencies and disasters.
Week 2: Prevention
The easiest crisis to recover from is the one that never happens. Preventing emergencies is better than experiencing them.
Prevent fires
- Prevent electrical fires with this electrical fire safety information.
- Prevent cooking and kitchen fires.
- Careless disposal of smoking materials is the leading cause of campus fire related deaths.
Prevent crimes
- Lock doors and windows to prevent theft or unauthorized entry.
- Secure your belongings. Never leave valuables unattended in classrooms or libraries.
- Be aware of your surroundings and what is going on around you.
Prevent cyber crimes
- Enable or install antivirus protection.
- Enable two-step login for Cornell and for popular non-Cornell services, like Google, Facebook, Twitter, banks, credit cards, and more.
- Use long, strong passwords or passphrases and manage them with a password manager like LastPass.
- Learn to recognize fraudulent and phishing (fake) e-mails.
Preparedness Month Topics by Week
- Week 1: Make and Practice Your Plan
- Week 2: Learn Life Saving Skills and Prevention
- Week 3: Reduce the Impacts of Emergencies and Disasters Through Mitigation
- Week 4: Be Ready to Act and Respond in an Emergency