Do you know what to do to stay safe during an earthquake? What about in the event of a tornado?  How will you reconnect with your family following a major disaster or emergency?

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Each year, more and more people are gaining the skills necessary to prepare for and respond to disasters or emergencies through various training programs, classes or modules.  Get engaged, Get prepared and Be ready today for what may happen tomorrow.  Only by making certain we as individuals are prepared for a disaster, will we be able to ensure the safety of our families and assist our communities.

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FEMA provides information resources in many formats, including training guides, workbooks and DVDs, free of charge. Ordering information is included.

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Safety and Preparedness Resources
 

• FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute Independent Study Online Course - Many of FEMA’s emergency preparedness and management courses can be taken online for ease and convenience.Take a look at the many training courses FEMA has to offer about how you can prepare yourself or family for what to do before, during and after a disaster.

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• Community Preparedness Toolkit - The Community Preparedness Toolkit provides step-by-step directions along with useful resources for making your community, safer, more resilient to withstand any disaster or emergency. Learn more about this toolkit and how you can use it to develop a community-based approach to preparedness and start or join local preparedness programs such a Citizen Corps Council or Community Emergency Response Team.

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• Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) - The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operations giving members the skills to assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help.
   

FEMA Independent Study Courses
 

FEMA's Emergency Management Institute offers many online courses for you to learn more about emergency preparedness, mitigation, the emergency management system, and the disaster response process.

Below are a few courses that you may be interested in:
 

• IS 10.a - Animals in Disasters: Awareness and Preparedness

• IS 11.a - Animals in Disasters: Community Planning

• IS 22 - Are You Ready?: An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness

• IS 100 - Introduction to the Incident Command System

• IS-200b - Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response

• IS 244 - Developing and Managing Volunteers

• IS 288- The Role of Volunteer Agencies in Emergency Management

• IS 317 - Intro to Community Emergency Response Teams

• IS 324 - Community Hurricane Preparedness

• IS 394.a - Protecting Your Home or Small Business in Disaster

• IS-700 - An Introduction to the National Incident Management System

• IS-800 - National Response Framework, an Introduction

• CPR/AED: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation/automated external defibrillator training

 

CERT Supplemental Training Modules

• Animal Response I: General animal behavior, disaster planning for your animals, animal issues in emergency management

• Animal Response II: Knowledge and skills a CERT member would need when handling and caring for animals in an emergency

 

All the course materials are available over the internet to all who are interested. Official enrollment in the course, which includes scoring the final exam, receiving a certificate, and maintaining student records is, however, limited to United States (US) residents and to those individuals outside the US with valid US Postal Service deliverable address including APOs and FPOs.
 

• Individual and Community Preparedness Print Publications (link)