Be Ready, Arlington: April is Arlington Preparedness Month
Published on April 03, 2023
It’s a situation everyone has experienced: The media and public safety agencies warn of an impending storm that could bring chance of power outages and loss of service, but you find yourself scrambling at the last minute for batteries, bottled water and ideas to keep your family entertained. Disasters don’t plan ahead, but you can.
Arlington Preparedness Month in April is an observance to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. The 2023 theme is “Be Ready, Arlington! Prepare now to protect the life you love.”
Follow @ReadyArlington on social media and visit the Arlington Preparedness Month webpage to learn useful tips. Attend in-person community service and educational events with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Community Advancing Resilience and Readiness Together (CARRT) groups, and sign up for ArlingtonAlert to receive free, local emergency updates.
Explore the month’s weekly themes and share them with your children and family members:
Week 1 - April 1-8: Be Flood Ready
Spring rains can bring spring floods. Prepare your loved ones and your home from flood risk now, before the height of the rainy season. Just one inch of standing water in your home can cause $25,000 of damage.
Week 2 - April 9-15: Get Involved – Volunteer!
No one knows how to help a community prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies better than the people who live there. Volunteer with CERT and CARRT to work alongside the County to build a more prepared, resilient and equitable community.
Week 3 - April 16-22: Low-Cost, No-Cost Preparedness
Disaster preparedness doesn’t have to cost money. Low-and-no-cost preparedness can include learning about disaster risks in your area, photographing important documents for safekeeping, talking with your family about emergency plans, signing up for ArlingtonAlert and more.
Week 4 - April 23-30: Teach Youth About Preparedness
Talk to your kids about preparing for emergencies and what to do in case you are separated. Reassure them by providing information about how they can get involved in emergency preparedness, such as helping put a family kit and communications plan together, learning when and how to call 9-1-1 and more.
Learn more about emergency preparedness and volunteer to assist Arlington County with preparedness, response and recovery.