The first step that anyone should take in getting to know preparedness is getting to know your community. Who are your local resources--your local fire department, police department, emergency medical services? Get to know your local Red Cross. Get to know community-based organizations--faith-based organizations, local schools, parent organizations. All of those are part of the network--that you can help build those relationships now. The more comfortable you are with even talking to your neighbors is going to help you in an emergency. Most people recall emergencies in a positive way--as the first time they met their neighbors. If we have an option between meeting them before the emergency or meeting them during the emergency, which one's going to serve us better? Get to know your neighbors, get to know your local fire department--your local police department, and get to know those local organizations that are going to assist you. They're going to vary by region, depending on where you are. The first step is getting that information and finding out where you want to go. Obviously, the American Red Cross operates in disasters, but we've got many partners. The Salvation Army is great. Assigned with most fire departments are trainings, called community emergency response teams, or CERT; they have different names across the country, but CERT is one of the most incredible programs that you can become a part of now. You like this kind of training? Fantastic! CERT is about 20-24 hours, spread out across a couple of weeks, teaching you basic first aid, triage, how to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher--all kinds of great information that's also free and available for you--to help build the resiliency in your community, and even more so the information your family has. So CERT, local non-profits, people who work in emergency response--those are all your allies, especially when the next disaster happens--but nothing's stronger than starting in the home and working out into your community.