National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Are you ready?

The U.S. National Hurricane Center has named May 27th –June 1st National Hurricane Preparedness Week.

Eastern Pacific hurricane season kicked off on May 15th and Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1st, both lasting through November. As residents in potentially impacted communities and response organizations work diligently to prepare, it is a valuable reminder to ensure that response plans are ready.

Preparedness is key to reducing impacts and increasing resiliency to natural disasters.  Visit the Microsoft Disaster Response page for useful information on technologies available to help prepare, and links to organizations such as FEMA and Ready.gov for tips on how to plan in advance of potential natural disasters.

Throughout the week we will be featuring posts from the National Hurricane Center including preparedness quizzes and information to increase awareness and personal & family preparedness for hurricanes. Check back often!

One of the key things to remember is getting prepared ahead of time.  For example think about the most important documents, forms and information you would need in the event of an unexpected natural event.  One thing you could consider is saving all that information to Microsoft SkyDrive, a free online storage service when you can save documents, files, and photos and make them accessible from any device (including smartphones) and any location with internet access.  Note: If you already have a Hotmail, Messenger or Xbox account, you already have access to SkyDrive. If not, you can easily sign up using your existing email address by logging in at https://SkyDrive.com.

Natural disasters often occur without notice or allow for very little preparation. Get prepared ahead of time.

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 07, 2012
  One thing I've repeatedly seen is folks urging others to go out and buy storm preparation supplies.  This is good but for those w/out much disposible income it should be mentioned that you can just go onto a site like www.hurricanecamping.com, download a supplies list, then buy 1-2 items each week until you fulfill your preparation checklist.  Also see what items you already have and set them aside to start your preparations...