Preparedness and military readiness go hand in hand in the Navy. Naval District Washington is raising preparedness awareness by encouraging everyone in the region to take part on Americas' PrepareAthon!, April 30.

America's PrepareAthon! is a grassroots campaign for action to get families, organizations and whole communities better prepared for emergencies.

The campaign offers easy-to-use preparedness guides, checklists, and resources to help individuals prepare for common natural hazards and to take action, including downloading alerts and warnings, holding a drill, or safeguarding critical documents.

"The PrepareAthon is part of National Preparedness Month," said Justin Petrick, Naval Support Activity Washington emergency manager. "The purpose of PrepareAthon is to help bring awareness to the public of the dangers and disasters that are possible in a region and help them be aware and prepare themselves and their families so they can sustain themselves for at least 72 hours. Usually during this event there can be demonstrations on how to prepare or respond to a specific event or emergency."

According to the Federal Emergency Management Administration, despite the devastation that tornadoes, wildfires, and other natural disasters have caused in recent years, nearly 60 percent of surveyed Americans have not participated in a preparedness drill or exercise at their workplace, school, or home in the past year.

"The general recommendation for how often to conduct a drill of a family emergency plan is every six months," said Petrick. "Not only conducting drills is recommended, but have the necessary tools to survive during and after a disaster occurs. I like to tell people perform it at day light savings time in conjunction with changing the batteries in your smoke detector. This way you won't forget to do it and you can make changes to the plan as needed. As the years go by the needs of a family probably change."

Petrick also emphasized the importance of being prepared and the importance of having a survival kit at their disposal.

"The importance of being prepared for an emergency cannot be understated," said Petrick. "Families should ensure that they have a kit ready to go at a moment's notice, have a plan foe where to meet if they are not together, know the evacuation routes out of their area and remember to consider family members with special needs as well as the animals that they own."

Petrick explained although all emergency supply kits should be personalized for the needs of each family, some of the basic items are:
- Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation.
- Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food for the entire family.
- Battery-powered or hand crank radio and an NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both.
- Flashlight and extra batteries
- First aid kit
- Whistle to signal for help
- Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air
- Plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
- Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic
- Items for personal sanitation
- Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
- Hand crank can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
- Local maps
- Cell phone(s) with chargers

Also some additional items may be:
- Pet food
- Cash (ATMs may not be working)
- Necessary medicines
- Sleeping bags
- Deck of bards, coloring books and crayons or anything that is manageable to keep kids entertained

All NDW installations, Sailors, civilian personnel, and families are encouraged to register at https://community.fema.gov/. At the website, participants can register preparedness activities, share information and download materials. It's an opportunity to be counted among those who view preparedness as a shared responsibility and contribute to national preparedness.

Navy installations across the U.S., as part of a DoD-wide effort, will be partnering with local FEMA representatives and other community organizations in various preparedness drills and exercises.

For more information on emergency preparedness and to find out about the Navy's Emergency Preparedness Program, visit the Ready Navy website at www.Ready.Navy.mil.
You can also contact Ready Navy by e-mail at ready.navy@navy.mil or call (202)433-9348, DSN 288-9348. Follow Ready Navy on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ReadyNavy), Twitter (@ReadyNavy), and Instagram.

Ready Navy is a program under the Commander, Navy Installations Command. The Navy Installations Command is responsible for worldwide shore installation support for the U.S. Navy under the Chief of Naval Operations. CNIC's mission is to support the Fleet, Fighter, and Family.

For more news and information about Naval District Washington visit For more news and information about NDW visit http://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/ndw.html

For more news from Naval District Washington, visit www.navy.mil/