An agency's ability to resume critical services in the wake of a disaster can be the difference between life and death for vulnerable constituents. This spring United Way of King County recommends that health and human services agencies in the region help their staff become disaster-ready. Here are a few ways to get started:

• Survey staff on their level of personal preparedness with the Personal Preparedness Survey created by Public Health - Seattle & King County
• Host a one-to-two-hour personal preparedness workshop
• Conduct an agency-wide drop, cover and hold earthquake exercise

United Way of King County helps strengthen our health and human services system so that it can most effectively respond to current and emerging needs in our community. For more information about United Way's system support work contact Carter Hawley, associate vice president, Community Services, 206.461.3706.

For more ideas and additional resources on emergency preparedness visit:

• Public Health - Seattle & King County, Emergency Preparedness
• City of Seattle, Emergency Resources
• King County Office of Emergency Management, multilingual resources
• The American Red Cross
• Disastersrus.org, disability disaster preparedness
• Washington State Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
• Seattle Channel Emergency and Earthquake Planning Emergency Preparedness videos available in multiple languages