WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the wake of deadly tornadoes and flooding this week, federal emergency officials are sharing a disturbing fact.
Most Americans are not ready for a disaster.
FEMA tells our Washington bureau -- 70 percent of Americans have not participated in a natural disaster emergency drill in the past two years.
The agency wants schools, businesses, churches and families to come up with an emergency plan before it's too late.
"You don't want to be wasting precious minutes in the disaster time thinking where I am going to go, what I am going to do. So you just want to be in that execution mode," said FEMA director of preparedness Gwen Camp. "It's smart to practice ahead of time and it makes a really big difference. Because there's so much chaos happening in the time of a disaster, so you don't want to have to add any unnecessary decision making."
FEMA said families should prepare emergency kits of food, water, and supplies to last three days. Also, because you don't know where you'll be when a natural disaster strikes -- keep supplies at home, at work, and in vehicles.
FEMA created checklists for different types of disasters to help people come up with emergency plans.
You can check them out by going to our website.
Most Americans are not ready for a disaster.
FEMA tells our Washington bureau -- 70 percent of Americans have not participated in a natural disaster emergency drill in the past two years.
The agency wants schools, businesses, churches and families to come up with an emergency plan before it's too late.
"You don't want to be wasting precious minutes in the disaster time thinking where I am going to go, what I am going to do. So you just want to be in that execution mode," said FEMA director of preparedness Gwen Camp. "It's smart to practice ahead of time and it makes a really big difference. Because there's so much chaos happening in the time of a disaster, so you don't want to have to add any unnecessary decision making."
FEMA said families should prepare emergency kits of food, water, and supplies to last three days. Also, because you don't know where you'll be when a natural disaster strikes -- keep supplies at home, at work, and in vehicles.
FEMA created checklists for different types of disasters to help people come up with emergency plans.
You can check them out by going to our website.
