It is not a question of if we will face a community emergency or disaster situation, but rather when the next one will occur. Even in the most prepared communities, there are not enough professional emergency responder resources to meet all of the needs that can occur when a disaster strikes. It will require us to work together to endure and recover from whatever we face.

Emergency preparedness and disaster resilience is a community effort. Everyone must do their part to plan, prepare, mitigate, and help others: you, your family, your neighborhood, businesses, government, faith communities, service providers … everyone. And we must remember to include in our planning those who for some reason are unable to be prepared on their own, so that no one is ever left behind.