Governor Baker Proclaims July 10-16 as “Hurricane Preparedness Week”

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Hurricane Preparedness Week, as proclaimed by Governor Charlie Baker, runs from July 10 – 16. All week, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) will interact native communities throughout Massachusetts to focus on the danger of tropical storms and hurricanes, and encourage residents to take steps to arrange. As a part of MEMA’s dedication to variety and fairness in emergency planning, this 12 months’s marketing campaign will embody info to equip these dwelling with disabilities and particular medical wants.

“Hurricane Preparedness Week is an annual reminder of the hazards that the Commonwealth faces and how residents can prepare during hurricane season,” stated Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy. “While it’s been 31 years since Hurricane Bob made landfall in New England, hurricanes and tropical storms remain a threat to Massachusetts and we ask residents to learn if they live in a hurricane evacuation zone, develop an emergency plan, build an emergency kit, and stay informed.”

For the 2022 hurricane season, MEMA has continued its longstanding dedication to deepen native, state, federal, and personal sector partnerships. The Agency has convened conferences to debate logistics, operational plans, and capabilities; facilitated a collection of tabletop workouts; and took part in a big tabletop train with Emergency Support Function (ESF) companions and the National Weather Service. Additionally, MEMA Acting Director Dawn Brantley serves as Co-Chair of the National Emergency Management Association Diversity and Equity Committee which focuses on figuring out alternatives to advance variety and inclusion within the workforce; and ensures fairness and accessibility of emergency administration insurance policies and applications. While MEMA and its companions are taking steps to make sure the Commonwealth is prepared, preparedness is a shared duty that each one ought to participate in.

“While MEMA continues to prepare for disasters, we can’t do it alone – preparedness is a whole community responsibility and we want everyone to be prepared for the challenges and impacts they may face in an emergency,” stated Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Acting Director Dawn Brantley. “I urge residents with disabilities and medical needs to take steps to prepare for their circumstances by customizing their emergency plans, gathering necessary supplies and planning with their support network who may be able to assist during a disaster. For those individuals, I want to assure you that MEMA takes accessibility of emergency programs and services very seriously and we work year-round to ensure that we are prepared to support all individuals equally and equitably before, during, and after disasters.”

Plan for Your Unique Needs

Every particular person and household could have totally different wants in an emergency. Individuals with disabilities or medical wants could to take further steps to arrange:

• If you obtain medical therapy or dwelling well being care providers, work together with your medical supplier to find out methods to preserve care and repair in case you are unable to depart your property or should evacuate.
• If you reside in an space that will flood and may have an accessible transportation choice to evacuate, plan with household, neighbors, and buddies who could help you. Contact native public security officers to make them conscious of your wants.
• If your medical tools makes use of electrical energy, discuss to well being care suppliers, your utility firm & your private assist community for choices throughout an influence outage.
• Ensure that your emergency equipment has all of the gadgets you and your loved ones would want together with medicines, spare eyeglasses, medical tools and provides, and kids’s gadgets akin to diapers and system.

Ways to Prepare

Know Your Zone – In Massachusetts, there are three designated hurricane evacuation zones – Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C, for coastal areas of the state in danger for storm surge flooding throughout hurricanes. Visit MEMA’s interactive hurricane evacuation zone map to study should you reside or work in a hurricane evacuation zone: www.mass.gov/knowyourzone.

Make an Emergency Plan – Talk to your loved ones and create an emergency plan of how your loved ones would evacuate, shelter in place, and keep in contact. Consider youngsters, seniors, people with disabilities and medical wants, and pets in your emergency plans. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/make-a-family-emergency-plan

Build an Emergency Kit – Build an emergency equipment that features all of the gadgets your family would want for 3 to 5 days with out energy. Every emergency equipment ought to embody bottled water, meals, a flashlight, a radio and additional batteries, a primary support equipment, and private & hygiene gadgets. Kits must also be personalized for any extra gadgets your loved ones would want given medical situations, pets, and different issues: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/build-an-emergency-kit.

Stay Informed – Individuals ought to have a number of methods to receiving emergency alerts. Residents are urged to enroll in their neighborhood’s native notification programs. Other methods to obtain alerts and knowledge embody the Emergency Alert System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, NOAA Weather Radio, and social and conventional information media. The Commonwealth’s 2-1-1 hotline is accessible 24×7 for non-emergency help and is accessible with translation in 150+ languages and will be accessed by way of video relay providers. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/be-informed-and-receive-emergency-alerts

For extra info, together with interactive evacuation zone maps, a social media toolkit, flyers, preparedness tips, movies and extra, visit MEMA’s Hurricane Season Preparedness webpage.