Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Motivating People to Prepare

We have a highly active 400+ member prepper group in Marshall County, Alabama. Started in April 2012. We seem to have found a good formula for involving and educating our county residents. It starts with a dedicated core group of leaders and uses a "value added" website with a huge preparedness library for members... over 1000 pages. We also hold free seminar and workshops every 2 to 3 weeks and send out informative ...more »

No private beach if we as tax payers ave to rebuild beach or homes near the ocean then we should have access . I have a problem with people who live on the beach enjoy beach living for 30 years and then have know flood insurance . So we as tax payers have to use our hard earned tax dollars to rebuild your home then all beaches like in Florida are can be used by all New York State residents . No more private beaches anywhere ...more »

In just about any company, a leader, when asked what their most valuable asset is within their company, will answer that their employees are by far the aspect of their organization they cannot live without. Therefore, I believe there is a responsibility on the part of the employer to encourage, and in some cases require employees to develop personal & family preparedness plans. Let's face it, if a person's family is ...more »

Federal Grants could be made available to individuals and small businesses to get prepared for disasters. This could go along with Ready.Gov and the Red Cross Ready programs. Grants would be small, $250 - $2500 based on need (according to how the request form was filled in). The Grant would come in the form of direct help from a local Disaster Preparedness agent (paid by the grant, not the individual or business) so that ...more »

Too often the scare approach is used in trying to motivate people. However the realized benefit approach works much better. This is described by Dr. Mileti in "Communicating Actionable Risks" available on the web.

Each family needs to prepare. They can do so by having some basic food and supplies at home. Each family in America should visit www.gingers.shelfreliance.com

The insurance industry stands to lose enormous amounts in payouts during a major disaster. Incentives to prepare via reduced premiums could wake up the public to take action and get ready. Preparation can be contracted out to specialist to ensure it happens and is monitored periodically.

United Way effectively used varied displays of a giant temperature gauge to help motivate local citizens to give to their charitable causes. Fund raising progress was shown by the temperature displayed on these gauges. Emergency Managers could use large, public preparedness gauges to show the critical steps a community has taken to prepare for potential disasters. If designed and promoted in the right way, these preparedness ...more »

People will care about preparing when the evidence that something can happen to them overcomes their denial that it's going to happen to them, or that someone else is supposed to deal with that problem. I make tools for firefighters/responders to simulate incidents, but I think the latest tool we've made, a mobile app called SimsUshare, has relevance to individuals and businesses, not just responders. Essentially, you ...more »

The goal is to get people ready for disaster. If you can get them to be ready via steps they already want to take, you don’t have to worry about “motivation.” Remember two key things about society: 1. Folks see too much negativity and danger in the news. 2. Many people today take a “what’s in it for me?” view of things. So, when getting people to prepare, two objectives should be to: A. Focus on the positive, or ...more »