Disasters can strike at any time, whether they are man made or naturally occurring. When they do, it is important to be prepared. Monday morning, sixth grade students from Highland Home, Brantley and Luverne School met with Crenshaw County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) director Elliott Jones and the Alabama EMA external affairs manager Ricky Adams to discuss emergency preparedness in homes and schools. This presentation collaborated with the sixth grade curriculum study of emergency preparedness, and gave the students a close up look at what EMA officials handle on a daily basis.

“The whole point throughout the presentation was are you prepared, get prepared and know what to do,” said Adams. “We want to give them every bit of information they can access so that they can formulate a plan in their own heads. They may be the ones teaching their parents, grandparents, siblings and peers what to do.”

Topics covered for the day were natural and man made disasters such as tornados, volcanoes, lightening, fire, earthquakes, severe weather, making previsions for pets, the elderly and those with special needs and how to construct an emergency kit.

This presentation not only acted as an educational event for the students, but also gave the EMA officials the chance to interact and collaborate. Both groups strive to keep unity between the state and county levels of EMA and want to continue to show a united front in the event of future emergencies.

“Today shows that the state and the counties really are working together, and that we really do have a partnership. We aren’t just saying it,” said Adams. “It was an honor to get to go and talk to the young people. Hopefully the next time there’s a siren or a weather notice, they’re going to go back and think about this talk and maybe even talk to their parents about it.”