One of the major tenets of self sufficiency is reliance on oneself. Your own ability to prepare for anything that might come your way is essential to any set of survival skills. This is especially true when it comes to storm and emergency preparedness. If you live in an area where storms are prevalent, you may be used to bracing for the worst when potential disasters are looming. In many cases, your local and state governments are crucial in aiding those who are most in danger, especially when tornadoes, blizzards and other such events occur.

In Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina was a major wakeup call to area officials, especially the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), which was a big part of the recovery effort. In the years since, officials say that the mistakes from Katrina won’t happen again, an article from the Hattiesburg American says. Officials are now trying to shift more responsibility onto individual and family preparedness:

“Ultimately, it’s what people do when we give them information — about evacuating, having communication plans and having evacuation kits — that is actually going to save lives.In most cases, when a disaster strikes, the outcome as it relates to loss of life and injuries is really determined before the first firefighter leaves the station or the first EMT leaves,” [MEMA Executive Director Robert Latham Jr.] said.”

The article says the message change will be difficult, especially as new programs need to be enacted. However, a comparison is made between the fire safety programs that children participate in during elementary school, where children bring knowledge of safety issues home to their parents:

“Adults have trouble learning anything new,” Latham said. “They don’t want to sit down at the dinner table and talk about evacuations and disaster supply kits, and those are the kinds of things we need to start talking about.”

All in all, this type of message will more than likely become the norm for local areas – it is important for you to be self sufficiency in your own preparedness measures. How else can you be sure that you’re ready for the worst?