We are a week into school and over a week into September and it's probably time to share some information about National Preparedness Month. Especially as we've just seen the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and some devastating weather in other parts of the country. Oregon has been relatively quiet (knock on wood) compared to the other parts of the United States but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking about how we should prepare, react, deal with a disaster.

First, the federal government site, www.ready.gov, offers some great videos, toolkits and public service advertisements you can use to educate your constituents. They also have a site designed for kids which is useful in preparing kids for those emergency drills.

Oregon Emergency Management has lots of information as well. Including a link to Citizen Corps which helps coordinate preparedness efforts in communities. Schools have a large role to play when it comes to community planning as they are most often the site of shelters or other distribution points. It is important to have community agreements and relationships built so relief and recovery can be started immediately after an occurrence.

And finally, American Red Cross has resources and a store where you can buy supplies. Their list of resources and advice for National Preparedness Month was posted September 1. They even have a blog that can be RSS fed into your favorite reader (for those tech savvy individuals).

Now it's your turn. Tell us what you know. What resources have you come across that have been helpful in your planning for a disaster?