TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- September is recognized as National Preparedness Month. Individuals should be mindful of the many systems in-place by the Air Force to mitigate hardships from multiple types of disasters.
“A major incident can happen anywhere at any time without a moment’s notice,” said Staff Sgt. Christopher Teresak, 325th Civil Engineer Squadron readiness and emergency management NCO in-charge of education and training. “That’s why it’s everyone’s job to ensure their safety as well as everyone else around them.”
In the event of imminent danger, the installation will utilize the base wide speaker system to sound the 'National Standard' for Natural Disaster Warning Signals, a three to five minute steady signal from sirens, horns, or other devices and may be repeated as necessary. In the event of a crisis, personnel should listen for further instructions over the loud speaker.
The system can be used as an alarm for the following incidents:
• Severe thunderstorms
• Lightning
• Wind gusts more than 32 mph
• Severe flood leading to residential inundation
• Intense rainfall leading to flash flooding and landslides
• Cyclones
• Tsunamis
• Large hail
• Tornadoes
• Storm tide
• Hazardous materials emergency
• Biological hazard/major pollution, hazardous material or biohazard emergency
• Earthquake aftershock
• Dam failure/dam burst
• Major bushfire/major urban and rural fire
• Public safety emergency
In addition to Tyndall's installation disaster procedures, there is also the Federal Emergency Management Agency-driven "America's Prepare-A-thon" campaign. The goals of this campaign are to increase the number of individuals who understand which disasters could happen in their community, know what to do to be safe and mitigate danger and take action to increase their preparedness.
Airmen and their families are advised to always have family preparedness kits readily accessible in addition to the Air Force Be Ready app on an app-compatible electronic device. Everyone in the household should know where the family disaster supply kit is located. Print copies of your family emergency plan and place it within the kit.
A working weather radio, non-perishable food and water, and other essential survival items are some of the things that should be included in a family's preparedness kits.
“Throughout my career as an emergency management technician, my supervision has always stressed the importance of monitoring and establishing a preparedness kit in and out of the hurricane season,” said Tech. Sgt. Amanda Given, 325th CES emergency management technician. “In some cases, supplies are likely to expire if not properly maintained.”
According to www.beready.af.mil, all Air Force-affiliated personnel who are directly affected by major natural disasters or man-made events are to report their status to their command at the first available opportunity after an emergency.
In some cases, the Secretary of Defense will direct all DOD-affiliated personnel in the affected area to report their accountability status as soon as possible. When this happens, if members have access to the internet they must report their status online through the Air Force Personnel Accountability and Assessment System at https://afpaas.af.mil.