By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – Health officials are launching a statewide campaign to urge all Missourians to know what to do in an emergency.
The state's new "Ready in 3" program encourages families to create a disaster plan, prepare an emergency kit and to listen for information about what to do during an actual emergency.
Missouri Homeland Security chief Tim Daniel says the goal is to increase each person's level of preparedness.
"And each family is going to have to make their own decisions as to what that means to them, but the Department of Health and the Ready In 3 program is here to help them," Daniel said. "Hope is not a method. We know there's a disaster coming; we've got to prepare for it."
The plan is part of a larger federal effort to ensure that at least half of all Americans are better prepared for a disaster by the end of 2004.