Outreach Helps Mississippians Prepare for Disasters 

Release Date: October 13, 2006
Release Number: 1604-458

» More Information on Mississippi Hurricane Katrina

BILOXI, Miss. -- Herman Price remembers Hurricane Katrina victims he has met crisscrossing Mississippi. "We're trying to make sure this does not happen to us again," he said about hurricane preparedness. "We can't stop the next hurricane, but we can help people be ready to deal with it."

In just over a year since Katrina, Herman Price, his wife Joyce, and their Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) colleagues have driven from Moss Point to Clarksdale and all points in between, preaching preparedness for every kind of emergency.

Assigned to the Community Education and Outreach (CEO) group of FEMA's Mitigation Division, the Prices are native Mississippians who began working for FEMA a month after Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA community outreach preparedness seminar topics are diverse and can range from evacuation route planning, emergency kit preparation, getting a home ready before an evacuation to helping children deal with the stress of a disaster.

"The seminar FEMA did here was tremendously useful," said Melody Oakerson, activities committee chair for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints in Gulfport . "We had about 150 people at the lecture. The speakers let us know about all the dangers we might face in this area such as tornadoes and hazardous materials spills. It was very thorough, above and beyond what I expected," she added.

In Flowood, Miss., where the Prices led a preparedness seminar at the local public library, the information was helpful to the participants.

"The FEMA speakers helped us understand the need for preparation not just for hurricanes on the coast, but for all sorts of disasters," said seminar organizer Pam Moore of Jackson . Moore is working on a series of television programs about preparedness and she hopes the Prices will be able to take part in those as well.

FEMA's CEO group makes presentations on preparedness at libraries, schools, community centers, to government entities as well as private corporations. The group also sets up educational displays at festivals, fairs, shopping malls, conventions and conferences, and building and supply stores.

An extensive virtual library of preparedness material is available at the FEMA Web site, www.fema.gov. A web-based children's disaster education site is located at www.FEMA.gov/kids.

For further information or to have a FEMA preparedness representative come to your community meeting, call the FEMA news desk, 228-385-5611.

FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Last Modified: Friday, 13-Oct-2006 11:30:04