Here's a question, Berkshire County residents: In the event of a local, statewide, or national emergency, do you feel prepared? In other words, are you ready for it? If you answered in the affirmative, experts say you're kidding yourself.

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Recently Assurance.com, the digital platform that provides smart shopping for insurance and loans, conducted a survey to determine which states are the most ready for an emergency. Apparently, the Commonwealth did not do too well.

First, let's examine how Assurance arrived at the results. They surveyed 3,000 people on a wide variety of questions about emergency preparedness actions, how long they could survive if they were unable to leave their houses, etc.

It turns out, based on the results, that Massachusetts is one of the LEAST PREPARED states in the country. Before we get to that, let's take a look at which states are MOST prepared in the event an emergency arises. Here are the top 5 according to Assurance:

  1. Louisiana
  2. South Carolina
  3. Tennessee/Florida (tie)
  4. Florida/Tenessee (tie)
  5. New Jersey

Now, for the moment most of you have been waiting for, here are the top 5 states least prepared for an emergency:

  1. Nevada
  2. California
  3. New York
  4. Massachusetts
  5. Maryland

WOW, huh? Massachusetts is the fourth state least prepared for emergencies in the nation! Not only that but according to the survey results, 46% of Massachusetts residents think they're prepared for an emergency. However, based on the actions they have in place, only 31.49% are actually prepared.

That's some pretty serious food for thought, right? Do yourself a favor when you have a moment and take a look at the rest of the rankings (and get some pretty good insights, too) by visiting Assurance's website here.

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