This September, get your family ready for the next disaster

September has been declared National Preparedness Month to raise awareness about the need for readiness if disaster strikes, in any of its many forms.

David Maurstad, chief executive of the National Flood Insurance Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says "FEMA works to build a culture of preparedness across the U.S. so there can be less disaster suffering."

"We are dedicating September to really raise the level of awareness, so that people can make preparedness a part of their daily routine, understanding that we might be more susceptible to one type of disaster and one type in one part of the year than from another."

He says among other things, you and your family should have emergency savings, learn life-saving skills such as CPR and have a family emergency plan.

"Those life-saving skills, we can really provide a real benefit to somebody if we have those skills," he said.

Maurstad said it's easy it's easy for those who have not been disaster victims to become complacent.

"They have to take action now because we do not know what is going to happen right around the corner," he cautioned.

Part of that preparedness is having flood insurance if you need it.

"When they have that conversation with their insurance agent, most people think that their homeowner's insurance policy covers flood insurance or their renter's policy provides them flood coverage. And generally, it does not. So we want to make sure that people are aware of that."

You can also go ready.gov for tips and a whole lot of information on the whole preparedness front.

Also on New Jersey 101.5:

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5