Emergency preparedness is usually a dry topic and not a frequently searched term, especially by young adults and teens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found a fresh approach that changed that. On May 16, the CDC posted "Zombie Apocalypse," a social media blog post about disaster preparedness aimed at a young audience.
Dr. Ali Khan, of the CDC's Public Health and Preparedness Center, created the post as a less-than-mundane attempt to get the American public interested in the important topic of disaster preparedness, reports Yahoo! News.
The usual response from the public to posts from the center average 1,000 to 3,000 per week. In the first 24 hours of the Zombie Apocalypse being posted, it received 30,000 hits. By May 20, the site had received almost 1 million hits, with Internet traffic showing no signs of abatement.
So baby boomers, if your children and grandchildren are suddenly showing an interest in what to do in case of disaster striking, you can thank the CDC. Readers of the site now know not only how to respond to a zombie apocalypse, but natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and the like.
The Public Health and Preparedness Center's post has been such a hit that the plethora of incoming hits crashed the blog site earlier this week. How savvy of the usual staid and matter-of-fact federal agency to tap into a common interest of teens and young adults, and using a venue that is as natural to those generations as is breathing.
Thanks to a great public relations campaign, hundreds of thousands of Americans know the importance of having a plan in place before an emergency happens, whether that emergency comes in the form of the living dead or one of Mother Nature's creations. Many people know now that an emergency preparedness kit should contain one gallon of water for each person per day; prescription and over-the-counter medications frequently used should be stored; and nonperishable food items should also be part of the kit.
More detailed information is available at the CDC's Emergency Preparedness and Response page. This might be the first time in the history of zombies that they've saved people's lives instead of taking them.
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