For the past five years, the media, dozens of organizations have advised people to prepare for emergencies. Sometimes, in their fervor to accomplish that mission, these groups approach the tone of begging about preparedness. The media repeats messages of urgency from gr groups like such as the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, churches, trade associations, government agencies such as the the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and and specifically FEMA. The plea goes out from churches, trade associations, schools, police and firefighters-all promoting the same message to businesses, their employees and families. The method may vary, but the message is always this: ", mostly based on need and fear, is to "Get prepared NOW" for a disaster." or emergencynow" Fear-with a capital "F" - it hais wielded fear as the primary motivator.

Due toWith all the media attention, public service announcements and money federal moneyfederal money spent on emergency preparedness especially from the federal government since 9/11, one would expect a dramatic increase in the number of businesses and families that are well prepared for an unexpected event eventthan were prepared prior to 9/11..

However, many surveys have shown just the opposite. Preparedness-related activities have remained fairly constant or declined slightly since 9/11. It is widelyFurther, the data indicates recognized that the overwhelming majority of American businesses and their employees , as indicated by survey conclusions, have not responded to the media messages and have not embraced the need for "preparedness1."." This data suggests that the current approach to encouraging preparedness is ineffective, and a new method of communicating the importance of developing business and personal preparedness plans is needed.

The Emergency Preparedness Institute has created “The Preparedness Clock” developed and maintained as a symbol to monitor America’s business and employees’ preparedness for a catastrophe.

It is currently set at 23 minutes to the hour, (with 12:00 representing 100% preparedness) and will be reset one minute for each additional (or decreased) 3% of businesses and their employees, according to new surveys, that are reporting their levels of preparedness.