Disaster Preparedness Month

Disaster Preparedness Month is observed throughout September as a time to focus on planning, learning, and taking practical steps to stay safe during emergencies. It highlights the importance of being ready for events such as severe weather, fires, earthquakes, power outages, and other disasters that can affect families and communities.

Throughout the month, people are encouraged to create or update emergency plans, assemble essential supplies, learn basic first aid, and sign up for local alerts. It is also a valuable opportunity to check on neighbors, consider the needs of children, older adults, and people with disabilities, and practice how to communicate and reunite if a disaster occurs. Small preparations made in advance can help reduce stress, protect lives, and strengthen community resilience.

Disaster Preparedness Month is observed throughout September as a period dedicated to helping individuals, families, businesses, and communities prepare for emergencies. Its modern history is closely associated with the growth of organized preparedness campaigns in the United States following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Those events highlighted the need for the public to understand emergency planning, communication, evacuation, and community resilience—not only in response to natural hazards, but also in relation to human-caused disasters.

The observance developed within the broader expansion of national preparedness efforts led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security. In 2004, the federal government introduced National Preparedness Month as an annual September campaign. Its timing connected preparedness education with the anniversary of September 11 while also coinciding with a period of heightened attention to hurricanes and other severe weather in the United States. Public agencies, schools, nonprofit organizations, and emergency-services groups used the campaign to promote practical steps such as making emergency kits, creating household communication plans, learning first aid, and staying informed through official alerts.

Over time, the focus of Disaster Preparedness Month broadened from government-led emergency response to an all-hazards approach. Guidance increasingly addressed earthquakes, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, winter storms, public-health emergencies, power outages, and technological disruptions. The observance also came to emphasize the needs of older adults, people with disabilities, children, pets, and households facing language or economic barriers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, preparedness messaging expanded further to include health supplies, continuity planning, reliable information, and the importance of protecting vulnerable community members.

Culturally, Disaster Preparedness Month has helped make readiness a recurring civic practice rather than something considered only after a catastrophe. Its September activities encourage people to connect personal responsibility with collective resilience: households prepare themselves, while neighborhoods and institutions work to support one another. The observance also reflects lessons learned from major disasters, including the importance of trusted communication, local cooperation, and planning before an emergency occurs. Through annual reminders and community education, it continues to promote the idea that preparedness is an ongoing part of public safety.