Emergencies can happen anywhere and at any time. They can be caused by severe weather or other natural hazards, by deliberate actions, or as a result of accidents or infrastructure failure. They can be events that happen quickly and are over in a few hours, or they can develop and continue over the course of several days, months, or sometimes even longer. You may learn about the emergency through first hand experience, through being informed by a local agency or emergency service or through the national alert service that was introduced in March 2023.

Getting prepared for incidents and emergencies in your community can significantly reduce the impacts as well as supporting the response and the recovery for you and your neighbours. Getting prepared can be as little as taking a few simple steps that need not cost you anything and only take a few minutes to do. To be fully prepared, we recommend thinking on a number of different levels and support for each of these can be found via the links:

• People Prepared (you and your household)
• Communities Prepared
• Businesses Prepared
• Travel Prepared
• Pets and Animals Prepared

You can also visit our YouTube channel for videos on how you can be prepared.

The UK Government also provides some advice on how to get prepared here.