The 7th annual National Preparedness Month, sponsored by FEMA and Citizen Corps is over for 2010; but, what was its impact upon Petaluma and Sonoma County residents to Be Ready and to Be Prepared to cope with a major natural disaster such as a flood, wild fire, or an earthquake? We probably will never really know; but, that’s OK because every effort helps the cause. There is, however, another opportunity in case you didn’t do any thing in September.

On Thursday, October 21, at 10:21 a.m., the Great California ShakeOut will strike. The sponsors  expect it will impact over 6 million people throughout California. If you have not heard about this annual event to make Californians more aware of what to do, check out … http://www.shakeout.org

Here, in Our River Town, over the past five years, there has been a local initiative called NERT (Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams) in process that brings neighbors together and helps them to train and to prepare to self-activate in the event of a major disaster. It started as a pilot project in 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, and was featured on an Internet TV show titled, “Can Sonoma County Communicate” (Oct. 19th.) That question is still a good one ask at the neighborhood level of most communities. In addition, there are other Emergency Preparedness questions that have been asked over the years and bear repeating; especially, in “Earthquake Country” as we approach this year’s Great California ShakeOut – October 21st.

Over the next few weeks, a series of posts on this blog site will be devoted to some of these questions: Are you ready? Are You prepared? Can you and your neighbors communicate? It isn’t a matter of IF, but WHEN? Stay tuned.