Blog

A recent fire has closed down the Madison Children’s Museum in Wisconsin until August 14, 2010. The cause of the downtown Madison museum’s closure is not due so much to the fire damage the building experienced. Rather, it is because of the following water damage.

The Ronald McDonald House in Columbia, Missouri has had to shut its doors temporarily while water damage in the center’s basement is remediated. The Ronald McDonald House Charities provide support to families who need a home away from home while their children receive treatment at nearby hospitals.

With fears of impending large-scale natural disasters, top climate scientists from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), UK Met Office and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will meet in Boulder, Colorado during the week for the first full session of ACE, the Attribution of Climate-related Events.

September is National Preparedness Month and 2010 marks the seventh anniversary of this campaign. This year the Ready Campaign and the Ad Council, the companies that produce PSAs (public service announcements), are focusing on FEMA’s second step to being prepared, “Make a Plan.” The thought is that if families and businesses make an emergency preparedness plan, they will then take the steps to prepare an emergency disaster kit.

One of the important things learned from natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina is the need to include your pets in the family’s emergency disaster plan. Images of homeowners who would not evacuate their homes because they did not want to leave a pet behind and those of abandoned pets still cause animal lovers and pet owners to cringe and wish they could have done something to help. The time to help protect your pets is now, before a disaster happens.