How to Prepare for Disasters & Emergencies

September is National Preparedness Month. Keep yourself, your loved ones, and your community safe and prepared for emergencies and disasters.

Create a Personal Disaster Plan

Emergencies can range from falls in the home to fires and earthquakes. Each person has unique abilities and needs during a disaster, and everyone can take steps to prepare. You can start to prepare with the help of two easy-to-use guides from the County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services (OES):

Personal Disaster Plan for People Who May Need Assistance – This new guide, developed in partnership with the County's Department of Aging & Independence Services and launched in 2021, is designed to help the whole community, including older adults, people with disabilities, and anyone with access or functional needs, better prepare for emergencies or disasters. The guide is available in 12 languages.
Personal Disaster Plan – The Personal Disaster Plan was developed by the County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services to help you, your loved ones and neighbors better prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency or disaster. Practice this plan yourself or with your loved ones at least twice a year and be READY.

Download the Free SD Emergency App

The County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services created the free SD Emergency Mobile application to better prepare and inform San Diego County residents and visitors about disasters. With SD Emergency Mobile, the tools you need to plan, prepare, and respond in an emergency are right at your fingertips, including ShakeReadySD, a new feature that provides early earthquake notifications and warnings.

Download the free app on your phone.

Register for AlertSanDiego

If you don’t have a landline and only use a cell phone, you can register your email or cell phone number to receive emergency alerts from the County of San Diego. If your landline has been switched to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which allows you to make and receive calls over the internet, that line can be registered for emergency alerts as well.

Find Your Community Emergency Response Team

Local government prepares for everyday emergencies. However, during a disaster, the number and scope of incidents can overwhelm conventional emergency services. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program is an all-risk, all-hazard training. This valuable course is designed to help you protect yourself, your family, your neighbors, and your neighborhood in an emergency situation.
CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens may initially be on their own and their actions can make a difference. While people will respond to others in need without the training, one goal of the CERT program is to help them do so effectively and efficiently without placing themselves in unnecessary danger.

In the CERT training, citizens learn to:

Manage utilities and put out small fires
How to open airways, control bleeding, treating for shock, and provide medical aid
Search for and rescue victims safely
Organize themselves and spontaneous volunteers to be effective
Collect disaster intelligence to support first responder effort

Cities and communities with existing teams are listed here.

If you don't see your city or community on the list, please contact your nearest fire department and ask the Fire Chief when/if they plan to start a CERT program in your neighborhood.

Attend a Preparedness Event at Your Local Library

Find an emergency and disaster preparedness program at a library near you! From CPR/AED and fire extinguisher training, to presentations in English, Arabic, and Mandarin on personal disaster plans, the San Diego County Library offers a range of preparedness events throughout the county all September long.