http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/02/honore.preparedness/index.html
CNN) -- The recent series of disasters in the United States and around the world have resulted in the forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and have again demonstrated with startling clarity that we are living in a new normal.
In this new normal, international interdependencies and instantaneous communications combine to constantly remind us of disaster and terrorism, and disasters that once were considered exceptional now occur more frequently. The recent earthquakes in China and the Myanmar cyclone are but two reminders of such disasters.
The reminders are beamed into our homes and workplaces as if to demonstrate that tragedy that can result if we fail to prepare. What people once viewed as the exception they now see on a routine basis, yet we still don't take the steps to be prepared for this new normal. 
Watch Honore talk with CNN »
We have to be better prepared, and the first steps start at home and at work.
In today's densely populated and technologically dependent communities, disasters have a far greater impact than ever before. It's time for America to wake up to this reality
(Cont.)