Today is one of two National PrepareAthon! Days held annually to help build a more resilient nation by increasing the number of individuals 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.

Below are some tips and facts to help with this goal and to help you be better prepared no matter where you may be.

Disaster Facts:

• Extreme weather events have increased in frequency in the past 50 years and are expected to become even more common, more intense, and more costly.
• Between 1900 and 2014, the United States experienced 38 earthquakes, 166 floods, and 568 storms (including tropical cyclones).
• In 2012, the United States was struck by 936 tornadoes, causing about $1.6 billion in damages.
• In 2013, there were more than 440 weather-related fatalities and nearly 2,800 injuries.

The Cost of Being Unprepared:

• In 2013, deadly weather caused more than $8 billion in property damage.
• According to the Insurance Information Institute, an estimated 25 percent of all businesses affected by a major disaster never reopen.
• Failure to prepare for extreme weather events has cost the United States $1.15 trillion in economic losses from 1980 to 2010 and could cost another trillion dollars in coming years.

Other Research Findings:

• Despite an increase in weather-related disasters, only 39 percent of respondents have developed and discussed an emergency plan with their household.
• Drills, exercises, and trainings are key tools that help the brain acquire skills that enable individuals to better overcome shock and support crisis response.

Where do you stand when it comes to preparedness?

Research shows that poeple are more prepared for a disaster if they:

• Are aware of community alerts and warning systems;
• Talk about their preparedness plan with family and others;
• Attend trainings and meetings; and
• Participate in a drill or exercise.

Increase your family's protection

Based on the 2012 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Survey, 54 percent of the U.S. population do not believe their community will experience a natural disaster.26 Only 39 percent have a plan they have discussed with their family members, and almost 50 percent do not have supplies set aside in their home for use in a disaster. Unfortunately, a disaster will likely impact you at some point in your life, and when it does, you may only have seconds to respond. Your family, friends, and community are depending on you if a disaster happens. Are you ready to act?

Do Something Today!

Today is to be a day of action! A day to do something to help you, your family, or your organization be better prepared for when a disaster strikes. Here's a visual provided by America's PrepareAthon! on ideas of something you can do today.

Everyone knows safety training is important. Everyone also knows that there are other things they’d rather be doing. Safety training takes workers off of the job site and that can be costly, as well as a distraction, affecting information retention and reducing the effectiveness of your training sessions.

The remedy isn’t longer sessions or more thorough testing. The solution is more effective use of class time. By placing an emphasis on engagement and changing simple things about the way instructors present training information, you can help employees focus on the importance of safety training and the work in front of them while realizing that safety doesn’t end with training sessions.

Whether you use training management software, classroom learning or a combination of both, engagement plays a key role in information retention for your employees. Increased retention means the lessons paid for in the classroom can help your employees cut loses and reduce injuries on the job site increasing your organization’s return on investment.

The first step in training engagement begins before class starts. In order to engage employees and give them confidence, instructors need to view training as a dialogue built around a safety-oriented corporate culture. Have management set an example for employees and show them that goals, like having zero incidents are worth striving for. This way management can set and test limits on performance while showing employees that there’s no excuse not to meet safety standards. It is always more effective for management to show this with their actions instead of just words.

Setting an example for employees is just the first step in creating a culture of safety around your organization. Invest the time and money into developing training tools and programs that will speed up the transmission of information and learning. Personal safety equipment is a valuable tool for employee protection and almost always presents a positive return on investment; the same can be said of safety training. In many cases, an employee learning management system can be the perfect tool to support your message delivery. By investing in a variety of training materials, like video and interactive exercises, employees will see the value you are placing in their training and will give lessons more attention according to that perceived value.

Slides, interactive exercises and animated videos may be more expensive to develop than text-based training methods, but they also increase learning retention and keep classroom sessions fresh by segmenting information and helping time pass more quickly. Using a number of different training methods will accommodate a variety of learning styles in your workforce and help ensure that everyone clearly understands the lessons being presented. Taking breaks is important, as well, to compartmentalize training session information. This improves retention and employees’ willingness to interact.

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See all the Easy-to-Use OSHA Safety Training Materials available!

Another way to increase engagement and provide variety to classroom sessions is to bring in expert speakers. Many are affordable and provide industry insight not readily available to safety training staff. Benefit from an expert’s experience by playing out emergency situations and recounting personal stories. These exercises will help employees contextualize information and increase retention.

The most important part of safety training invariably ends up being how information is reinforced once classroom and e-learning sessions are over. Create regular safety meetings that showcase good work. Emphasize hazard identification and provide incentives that will keep workers interested and committed. Make use of evaluations when training is over and at frequent intervals to reinforce important topics. It’s all about embracing a safety culture that will reduce workplace incidents and keep your employees’ heads in the game—and protected.

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Today is Workers' Memorial Day.

This day is observed every year on April 28. It is a day to honor those workers who have died on the job, to acknowledge the grievous suffering experienced by families and communities, and to recommit ourselves to the fight for safe and healthful workplaces for all workers. It is also the day OSHA was established in 1971. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their workers. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.

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As Weather Ready Nation Ambassadors, we try to keep our readers up to date on potential threats and help them to prepare - this Spring, know your regional probabilities and plan.

• Drowning Prevention 
• Flood Safety
• Hurricanes – Just a coastal issue? No.
• Flood Risk Mapping Guidelines and Standards
• Flooding & Extreme Precipitation
• Rip Currents and Beach Safety
• Flood Week

Risk of moderate flooding for parts of central and
eastern United States

No drought relief in sight for California, Nevada or Oregon this spring

According to NOAA’s Spring Outlook released today, rivers in western New York and eastern New England have the greatest risk of spring flooding in part because of heavy snowpack coupled with possible spring rain. Meanwhile, widespread drought conditions are expected to persist in California, Nevada, and Oregon this spring as the dry season begins.

“Periods of record warmth in the West and not enough precipitation during the rainy season cut short drought-relief in California this winter and prospects for above average temperatures this spring may make the situation worse,” said Jon Gottschalck, chief, Operational Prediction Branch,NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

NOAA’s Spring Outlook identifies areas at risk of spring flooding and expectations for temperature, precipitation and drought from April through June. The Spring Outlook provides emergency managers, water managers, state and local officials, and the public with valuable information so they will be prepared to take action to protect life and property.

Spring Flood Risk

Record snowfall and unusually cold temperatures in February through early March retained a significant snowpack across eastern New England and western New York raising flood concerns. Significant river ice across northern New York and northern New England increase the risk of flooding related to ice jams and ice jam breakups. Rivers in these areas are expected to exceed moderate flood levels this spring if there is quick warm up with heavy rainfall.

There is a 50 percent chance of exceeding moderate flood levels in small streams and rivers in the lower Missouri River basin in Missouri and eastern Kansas which typically experience minor to moderate flooding during the spring. This flood potential will be driven by rain and thunderstorms.

Moderate flooding has occurred in portions of the Ohio River basin, including the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers from melting snow and recent heavy rains. This has primed soils and streams for flooding to persist in Kentucky, southern Illinois, and southwest Indiana with the typical heavy spring rains seen in this area.

Minor river flooding is possible from the Gulf Coast through the Ohio River Valley and into the Southeast from Texas eastward and up the coast to Virginia. The upper Midwest eastward to Michigan has a low risk of flooding thanks to below normal snowfall this winter. Though, heavy rainfall at any time can lead to flooding, even in areas where overall risk is considered low.

Drought Outlook

El Niño finally arrived in February, but forecasters say it’s too weak and too late in the rainy season to provide much relief for California which will soon reach its fourth year in drought.

Drought is expected to persist in California, Nevada, and Oregon through June with the onset of the dry season in April. Drought is also forecast to develop in remaining areas of Oregon and western Washington. Drought is also likely to continue in parts of the southern Plains.

Forecasters say drought improvement or removal is favored for some areas in the Southwest, southern Rockies, southern Plains, and Gulf Coast while drought development is more likely in parts of the northern Plains, upper Mississippi Valley and western Great Lakes where recent dryness and an outlook of favored below average precipitation exist.

Current water supply forecasts and outlooks in the western U.S. range from near normal in the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, and Upper Colorado, to, much below normal in California, the southern Rockies, and portions of the Great Basin.

If the drought persists as predicted in the Far West, it will likely result in an active wildfire season, continued stress on crops due to low reservoir levels, and an expansion of water conservation measures. More information about drought can be found at www.drought.gov.

Temperature and Precipitation Outlook

Above-average temperatures are favored this spring across the Far West, northern Rockies, and northern Plains eastward to include parts of the western Great Lakes, and for all of Alaska. Below normal temperatures are most likely this spring for Texas and nearby areas of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

For precipitation, odds favor drier than average conditions for parts of the northern Plains, upper Mississippi Valley, western Great Lakes, and Pacific Northwest. Above average precipitation is most likely for parts of the Southwest, southern and central Rockies, Texas, Southeast, and east central Alaska. Hawaii is favored to be warmer than average with eastern areas most likely wetter than average this spring.

Now is the time to become weather-ready during NOAA’s Spring Weather Safety Campaign which runs from March to June and offers information on hazardous spring weather -- tornadoes, floods, thunderstorm winds, hail, lightning, heat, wildfires, and rip currents -- and tips on how to stay safe.

The WHO (World Health Organization) promotes World Immunization Week a bit differently than we would in the US - this is a Friday-Thursday awareness week.

Close the immunization gap

The World Immunization Week, which will be held from 24-30 April 2015, will signal a renewed global, regional, and national effort to accelerate action to increase awareness and demand for immunization by communities, and improve vaccination delivery services. This year’s campaign focuses on closing the immunization gap and reaching equity in immunization levels as outlined in the Global Vaccine Action Plan, which is a framework to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through universal access to vaccines for people in all communities.

• Read more about the goals of the campaign
• Americas
  25 April - 2 May 2015
  Boost your power! Get vaccinated!