September is National Preparedness Month, an annual campaign to remind everyone that preparing for emergencies and disasters can keep them, their families and their communities safe. This year’s campaign focuses on preparing Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities with safety tips and skills in the event of a disaster. The 2024 theme for National Preparedness month is “Start a Conversation.” Ready.gov has created preparedness toolkits in English, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Traditional Chinese and Vietnamese. The toolkits include helpful safety tips that range from power outage preparation to flood safety and evacuation planning. Toolkits can be found here.
Having a conversation about what to do in case of an emergency is not always easy, but remaining prepared is critical and can save lives. Start a conversation with loved ones today while keeping these helpful tips in mind:
- Set aside a time when everyone is calm and relaxed.
- It may help to hold the discussions over a set time period, so decisions aren’t rushed, and people feel more comfortable talking about the topic.
- Talk about steps you’ve taken to prepare and encourage others to ask questions about preparedness actions that might work for them.
In addition to these tips, NES is recognizing the observance by offering additional tips to ensure customers are well-prepared in the event that an outage occurs.
Power Outage Checklist
- Fully-charged phone
- Fully-charged portable phone charger
- Reliable weather app downloaded on your smartphone
- Battery-powered light source (flashlight, LED lantern, LED candles)
- Extra batteries
- Blankets or battery-operated fans, depending on climate
- Individual needs for infants, seniors, pets or family members with unique health conditions
- Sign up for local emergency text alerts.
Outage Safety Advice
- Stay at least 30 feet away from downed power lines and call 911 to report it immediately.
- Turn off appliances and electronics to protect them against power surges.
- Never cook indoors with charcoal.
- Use flashlights instead of candles to avoid fire hazards.
- Consider staying at a hotel or with a relative during extended outages.
NES also recommends enabling text messaging through your online account so you can quickly report a power outage by texting “OUT” to 637797 (NESPWR). You can also call 615-736-6900 to report an outage. Additionally, we encourage customers to follow us on X or Facebook for near-real time updates.
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