Five years ago, August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley was bearing down on the state of Florida. At that time, little did we know that Charley was going to be the first of four major hurricanes to strike in as many months.  The lesson we learned from that was, working as a team we can deal with many challenges but we also learned that we would only be as prepared as our public.  As we remember Hurricane Charley and the storms that followed in 2004, we also need to remember that all of us who live in hurricane-prone states or anywhere where disaster may strike: We need to get ready.  Get a plan. Get trained. When a disaster strikes, check on your neighbor. Some of the fastest responses that I saw on the ground in Hurricane Charley were people helping each other, whether it was neighbors or businesses opening up and feeding people because that was the thing to do in that aftermath of Charley. So as we look back at five years, we look at how far we've come from Hurricane Charley, we still know the scars are there. But the most important lesson we learned as a nation we learned that we will work together as a team.  FEMA is part of that team.  This response to the 2004 hurricanes was a team effort. But we know that we have to continue to build a team. Get a plan. Get trained.  When disaster strikes, check on a neighbor. Thank you.