3/20/14

1

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e


YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

INTRODUCTION
This playbook helps local emergency management agencies; police, fire, and emergency medical service providers;
elected officials; Citizen Corps Councils; local, state, tribal, and territorial government agencies; and other local
leaders implement successful Americas PrepareAthon! preparedness activities in their communities.
As a local leader, you understand the importance of individual and organizational preparedness and the role it plays
in helping the whole community prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate disasters.
Americas PrepareAthon! has created a set of resources to support your ongoing efforts to increase the
preparedness of individuals, families, businesses, and organizations in your community. For more information, and to
download resources, go to www.ready.gov/prepare.
AMERICAS PREPAREATHON!
Americas PrepareAthon! is a nationwide, community-based campaign for action to increase local preparedness and
resilience for disasters.
1
The campaign offers individuals, organizations, and whole communities valuable free
resources for discussing and practicing safety measures and actions to improve resilience for specific disasters. This
playbook can help you plan and conduct easy, low-cost activities to increase preparedness and resilience. All of the
materials you will need to implement Americas PrepareAthon! in your community are available for free at
www.ready.gov/prepare.
The campaign is designed to assist local emergency managers in their work to ensure that their communities are
prepared for disaster by complementing and enhancing existing local preparedness initiatives. The goals of
Americas PrepareAthon! are to increase the number of people who:
Understand which disasters could happen in their community;
Know what to do to be safe and mitigate damage;
Take action to increase their preparedness; and
Participate in community resilience planning.
This spring, Americas PrepareAthon! will focus on preparing for floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires; and this
fall, the focus will be on earthquakes, hazardous materials incidents, pandemic flu, and severe winter weather.
Resources for additional hazards will be added over time.
WHY PARTICIPATE
Communities are better prepared to withstand a disaster and can recover more quickly if the whole community is
involved. Yet awareness campaigns, public education, and more frequent severe weather still have not prompted
many Americans to take action to increase their personal safety during a disaster or emergency. As of 2012, less
than half of all Americans reported having a household emergency plan. And just over half reported having disaster
supplies ready in their homes. The Americas PrepareAthon! campaign builds on existing awareness campaigns with
materials designed to stimulate greater action by individuals, families, and organizations. These resources are based
on findings from social science research and include a hazard-specific focus and clear step-by-step guidance, using
social networks to promote involvement and encouraging widespread discussion about preparedness for local
events. Please read the Preparedness in America: Research Insights to Increase Individual, Organizational, and
Community Action for more information, available at www.ready.gov/prepare.

1
Americas PrepareAthon! is coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and is supported by partners
across Federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and by non-governmental partners at all levels.
3/20/14

2

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e


YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

Americas PrepareAthon! materials are free, and implementing the recommended actions requires little or no cost.
The return on investment for taking these actions can be significant, from saving lives and protecting property, to
easing the process of recovery. In addition, the national focus on preparedness each spring and fall on the national
days of action, provide you with valuable media support to encourage local participation.
WAYS TO PARTICIPATE
Americas PrepareAthon! is an opportunity to highlight your daily work and enhance preparedness in your
community. While local implementation is not fully dependent on the efforts of a single office or agency, as a local
leader, you play an essential role as a facilitator of community preparedness by bringing together community partners
and motivating, coordinating, and promoting participation. You can take the lead in implementing Americas
PrepareAthon! in several key ways and get your whole community on board.
SUPPORT COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS IN THEIR PREPAREDNESS EFFORTS
Americas PrepareAthon! is an excellent opportunity to focus on whole community engagement by reaching out to
community- based and nonprofit organizations and houses of worship, as well as schools, employers, and institutions
of higher education. The campaign provides resources and a platform for working with your existing partners, as well
as an opportunity to engage new organizations in your community preparedness efforts. Direct contact with local
emergency management and preparedness agencies is essential to achieving community-wide support for
preparedness. As a local leader, you can support organizations across your community in implementing Americas
PrepareAthon!
HOST A COMMUNITY DAY OF ACTION
As a local leader, you can coordinate or sponsor a community-wide event for Americas PrepareAthon! Many local
communities already hold safety fairs, community training, and outreach events focused on preparedness topics at
various times of the year. Use the Americas PrepareAthon! brand and materials to connect your event with the
national campaign, or launch a new event focused on the hazard most likely to affect your residents. Local Citizen
Corps Councils and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) can leverage their network to support a
community-wide effort. Local events could include:
Public presentations of community plans (e.g., evacuation, mass care/sheltering, emergency operations);
Sign-up drives for local alert and warning systems;
Workplace training, such as First Aid and CPR/AED;
Community training, such as for a CERT;
Safety fairs or community preparedness fairs;
Community-wide open houses that spotlight emergency management, public safety answering points, police and
fire departments, public health, Local Emergency Planning Committees, Citizen Corps Councils, Neighborhood
Watch groups, CERTs, houses of worship, and nonprofit response agencies; and
Community-wide volunteer events.
The inclusive design of Americas PrepareAthon! provides a platform for engaging nontraditional partners that can
support local leaders in planning and executing a community-wide event. Check out the Community Day of Action
Checklist, which also appears as an appendix to this guide, for additional tips on hosting a community event.
Everyone can do something to be more informed and more prepared.
3/20/14

3

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e


YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

CONDUCT A COMMUNITY TABLETOP EXERCISE
Americas PrepareAthon! materials include hazard-specific, whole-community tabletop exercises that encourage
diverse participation from across the community to address community readiness, including public information and
warnings, volunteer and donations management, sheltering, community recovery planning, and considerations for
people with access and functional needs. The exercise materials are consistent with the Homeland Security Exercise
and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) and include a facilitator/evaluator manual, a situation manual, after-action report
template, scenario/injects PowerPoint presentation, and several administrative support tools. All exercises are
designed to be tailored with local resources, maps, photos, and other location-specific information and could be
useful in meeting your jurisdictions exercise requirements or quotas.
REVIEW LOCAL ALERTING SYSTEMS
There are numerous ways to provide timely critical information to your community. These include opt-in alert and
warning systems, enhanced telephone notification systems, outdoor tone or voice alert systems/sirens, and the
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Organized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), IPAWS links the local emergency alert and warning systems throughout the United States. IPAWS allows
public safety officials from Federal, state, local, and tribal areas to alert and warn the public about serious national or
local emergencies using Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), the Emergency Alert System (EAS), National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio, and other public alerting systems from a single source. To
determine whether your state or local public safety agency is authorized to use this service, go to
www.fema.gov/integrated-public-alert-warning-system-authorities. For information on how to become an IPAWS
authorized user, go to www.fema.gov/how-sign-ipaws.
Assess your current capabilities and develop a plan to ensure that local officials can reach everyone in your
community with timely information and updates. Promote your alerting systems throughout your community to
encourage widespread use.
RESOURCES AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
Americas PrepareAthon! is supported by a robust set of educational and communication tools, as well as
promotional event planning materials, to help you educate and motivate community partners to participate and take
action.
Materials are available, by hazard, for the following audiences:
Individuals and families;
Workplaces;
Community-based organizations;
Houses of worship;
K12 schools; and
Institutions of higher education.

3/20/14

4

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e


YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

EDUCATIONAL AND EVENT PLANNING MATERIALS
Americas PrepareAthon! educational resources and guides are available for the audiences mentioned above and
can be downloaded at www.ready.gov/prepare. Available materials include:
How to Prepare: These hazard-specific guides offer information on what citizens can do in an actual
emergency, as well as mitigation and preparedness steps that can be taken beforehand.
Playbook for Your Day of Action: Playbooks are available for workplaces, K-12 schools, institutions of higher
education, community-based organizations, houses of worship, and individuals and families. These introduce the
benefits of participating and show how to get started by using Americas PrepareAthon! tools and resources.
Prepare Your People: These day of action guides are tailored to each hazard and audience. The guides
provide a step-by-step outline for holding a preparedness discussion and a short drill designed to improve their
ability to respond to the hazard.
Prepare Your Organization: These day of action guides give organizational leaders a tabletop exercise to test
their organizations plans to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impact of a disaster. They are also
tailored for each hazard and audience.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
The Americas PrepareAthon! website includes a suite of materials to help you promote participation in your activities.
These include posters, web badges, digital invitations, and a logo that can all be customized with your community or
organizations name. Materials are available at www.ready.gov/prepare.
Posters: Multipurpose as posters, ads, or flyers. There is a generic design for multipurpose use and designs for
specific hazards such as extreme heat, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. These posters point people to the
Americas PrepareAthon! website for more information. They can also be customized to include the date, time,
location, and contact information for your communitys day of action or other activity.
Web Badges: Local businesses, organizations, schools, and others can show their support and involvement in
Americas PrepareAthon! by displaying this badge on their websites. Link the badge to your website to take
viewers directly to your local information.
Digital Invitations: Customize and send invitations through social media to build awareness of relevant hazards
and encourage people to visit the Americas PrepareAthon! website. Use them on holidays and birthdays as
reminders and for updating contact information with family and friends.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a perfect communications method to promote Americas PrepareAthon! Share information about your
event via your social media networks.
The Americas PrepareAthon! Social Media Tip Sheet in the Communications Toolkit offers creative ways to join
the national conversation about preparedness and highlight your organizations efforts. Follow Americas
PrepareAthon! activities using the Twitter handle @PrepareAthon and the hashtag #PrepareAthon.
TweetChats are organized, fast-paced Twitter conversations in which participants discuss themes and ask
questions about a specific topic. Hosting TweetChats lets you share information and build widespread
awareness about preparedness in your community. You also can join FEMAs national TweetChats, which
include direct access to experts in disaster preparedness and response, and join the national conversation about
3/20/14

5

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e

YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

why it is important to be prepared. See the 10 Tip for Effective TweetChats in the Communications Toolkit for
more information.
MEDIA OUTREACH
As a local leader, you most likely have existing strategies for public outreach. You know the media landscape in your
marketyou are a resource for journalists and you generate coverage on your issues. Promotional strategies for
Americas PrepareAthon!, including those for events you may hold, should be built on your existing outreach efforts.
Invite local media to cover and/or participate in your day of action or preparedness activities. This not only promotes
your local event, but also contributes to national visibility for our united efforts. Below are some additional ideas to
consider when working with local media:
Engage with your media partners during your planning process and consider creative ways to include them in
activities on the day of the event. Find areas of common interest in media coverage.
Review local coverage for the previous year, to see which reporters covered emergency management and
preparedness topics, and reach out to them.
Leverage all available forms of media, including radio, television, print, and online community publications, and
develop a plan to use your social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Be responsive to media requests and sensitive to deadlines; consider how your needs work into existing
schedules.
Monitor media coverage and document contact information for reporters who cover your event for follow-up and
further relationship building.
Use the information in the Media Guide to either create a media plan from scratch or augment your existing outreach
efforts. Given how busy you are, this guide is meant to save you time and effort, and make promoting your activities
to local media as easy as possible.
AMERICAS PREPAREATHON! WEBSITE
The Americas PrepareAthon! website, www.ready.gov/prepare, has dynamic features that are designed to help you
engage communities, organizations, schools, individuals, and families to boost their preparedness. As a local leader,
you can use the website to register your community events, view activities and events in other communities, and
access outreach and promotional materials. Through the website, you are able to:
Access information about selected hazards, including guidance on what to do to stay safe before, during, and
after a disaster;
Download free preparedness materials and get links to other preparedness sites and tools;
Register your event and summarize your success;
Download free, customizable promotional materials, including posters, web badges, and a customizable logo;
Search by ZIP code to find other events near you and connect with those communities; and
Download day of action guides to encourage individuals and organizations in your community to participate.

3/20/14

6

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e


YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

AMERICAS PREPAREATHON! COMMUNITY DAY OF ACTION
CHECKLIST
PLAN YOUR AMERICAS PREPAREATHON! DAY OF ACTION
Contact your current community partners. Invite government, private sector, and nonprofit representatives to
form a planning committee if a Citizen Corps Council or similar coordinating group does not already exist.
- Involve partners in designing an event or activity that meets local needs and addresses key issues for your
community.
- Select a hazard on which to focus, or adapt the Americas PrepareAthon! resources to another hazard that
your community may face. The Americas PrepareAthon! website, www.ready.gov/prepare, has a variety of
resources associated with particular hazards.
- Get creative about ways you can engage your community. Americas PrepareAthon! events should be
interesting and easy for people to participate.
- Identify your local hazards and your communitys needs. What local hazards does your community face? Do
people know how to get timely information through your alert and warning systems? What specific
population needs does your community need to address? Are there opportunities to integrate Americas
PrepareAthon! with existing campaigns or community projects? Are there particular locations or population
segments in your community that are at greater risk?
- Can you create a community event that launches a seasonal or ongoing preparedness effort?
Register Your Event and Be Counted
Take a moment to register your day of action at www.ready.gov/prepare. Registration lets you demonstrate that
your community is taking steps to improve preparedness and resilience. On the website, you can see how other
businesses, organizations, and communities are preparing.

To register, select your State, your hazard, your type of participation, and the estimated number of people
participating. You can check out the registration questions before entering your answers online. Download the
guide at www.ready.gov/prepare. Encourage organizations within your community to register their preparedness
activities, too.
Encourage Community Participation
- Promote your Americas PrepareAthon! activities throughout your community, to increase participation.
- Use traditional media channels to communicate event details to your audiences.
- Customize materials to your activity. The Americas PrepareAthon! website provides a Resource Catalogue
of promotional materials to help you spread the word about your event, and generate interest and
participation. You will find customizable posters, web badges, digital invitations, a logo, and tips for using
social media for outreachall designed to be engaging and easy to customize.
- Use your website, listservs, newsletters, and social media such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to
promote participation.
Assess Your Success
- Set goals for participation and encourage leaders to share them with their teams.
- Take photos or videos of your event and post them online.
3/20/14

7

A
m
e
r
i
c
a

s

P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n
!



@
P
r
e
p
a
r
e
A
t
h
o
n



w
w
w
.
r
e
a
d
y
.
g
o
v
/
p
r
e
p
a
r
e


YOUR DAY OF ACTION FOR LOCAL LEADERS

- Distribute the Americas PrepareAthon! Participant Feedback Survey to collect feedback from event
participants and use the feedback to plan improvements in communications, policies, procedures, and
facilities to enhance your communitys preparedness and resilience. .
- E-mail your results to PrepareAthon@fema.dhs.gov so your information can be included in a national report
that will be sent to the White House. FEMA also will send you a survey to ask about your experience and
how Americas PrepareAthon! can be improved to meet local needs.
Maintaining Momentum
- Evaluate, record, report, and share lessons learned to plan for upcoming preparedness events.
- Link your Americas PrepareAthon! event to ongoing outreach and awareness campaigns to make
preparedness a year-round focus.
- Use Americas PrepareAthon! to raise awareness of other programs, such as a Citizen Corps Council or
Community Emergency Response Team.