Dariana Molina, the regional communications director for the Red Cross of South Florida, Miami and Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the importance of preparedness.
September is National Emergency Preparedness Month.
Molina said, “After last year’s hurricanes and the sudden onset tornadoes and flooding that occurred, we really do encourage everyone to be prepared ahead of peak hurricane season happening shortly.”
Complacency is not good. Preparation is critical.
Molina said, “Last year, the hurricanes didn’t happen until October, so we do still have the possibility of something happening, and it’s just best for everyone to be prepared. The first thing we recommend is to have an emergency plan for your family, so that’s knowing where you’ll go in case you need to evacuate, and then having the proper protection for your home in case you want to shelter in place. The other thing we recommend is to gather emergency supplies. We recommend that you have both a go kit and a stay at home kit. Those are two different things. A go kit would be in the case that you are evacuating and going somewhere, and that would mean that you would have at least three days of supplies, so three days of non perishable food and water. Then a stay at home kit means that you’ll be sheltering in place, and you’d have to plan for power outages. So that supply becomes, now a two week supply of those items. Both kits include things like important documents, such as insurance, passports, birth certificates, things of that nature, and then also keeping a supply of medication.”
Pets are important, too.
Molina said, “You always want to make sure that your pets are comfortable. They are members of our family, and it’s important to have their food, their water, any toys, any medications and documents as well.”
Do people generally prepare or are there some that aren’t ready at all?
Molina said, “I think people start to prepare kind of early on. Hurricane season does begin in June, and so I think people have it in mind. I think, they do become complacent when September, October rolls around and they haven’t seen anything. So again, it’s important to keep that top of mind and just honestly staying informed, download the Red Cross emergency app. It’s totally free, available in English and Spanish. It gives you weather alerts. It allows you to create a plan and a kit and then keep in touch with your local officials.”
Knowing where shelters are and when they open is also important.
Molina said, “Whether it’s hurricane, whether it’s flooding, we’ve seen brush fires this season, anything can happen and if there’s a shelter open, you can find it on our website. You can also find it on the emergency app. In preparation for anything that may come, we really are focused on finding shelter volunteers. We call them our shelter heroes, and they are probably the most important kind of volunteers, because they’re the ones that provide that comfort and that hope for displaced families. You can either get trained up in a day. We do have some shelter in a day simulation trainings happening throughout the month across the region, and you can find at the website, but there’s a lot of volunteer opportunities. We are looking for disaster health services volunteers. So those are volunteers that can provide that medical assistance to people that are displaced. So if you have a nursing background, if you’ve got some mental health stuff in your pocket, we do encourage you to volunteer there.”
Blood supplies are also needed.
Molina said, “We don’t collect blood here in South Florida, but we do partner with local blood banks. So if you would like to donate, we encourage you to go to your local blood bank.”
For more information, click here: https://www.redcross.org/local/florida/south-florida.html