Natural disasters affect thousands of people every year, and with the increased risk of various natural disasters such as wildfires in the summer and autumn months, floods and landslides in the winter and spring months, and earthquakes all year round, it’s a good idea to think about having an emergency plan in place. Below are five tips that you and your family can utilize to implement a plan quickly and effectively.
1. Discuss Possibilities
Have an open discussion with your family about the types of emergencies that could happen. These include severe weather like thunderstorms or high winds, natural disasters like earthquakes and fires and even civil unrest like rioting or acts of terrorism.
2. Designate a Meeting Place
Designate a meeting place in the event you cannot return home. It’s a good idea to choose both a neighborhood meeting place and a place to meet outside of your neighborhood in case you can’t access the area surrounding your home. If you have pets, ensure the meeting places you choose will accept them if you must evacuate your home for any length of time.
3. Organize Contacts
Pick an out-of-town friend or relative as an emergency contact. When disaster strikes, it could be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town. Your out-of-town contact could help communicate and reunite separated family members or assist with an evacuation. Make sure every member of your family has the phone number for your out-of-town emergency contact person.
4. Communicate with Schools and Daycare Providers
If you have children, communicate with their schools and daycare providers. Make sure you know the emergency plan at your child’s school or daycare provider. Find out how they plan to communicate with families during a crisis, whether they’re prepared to “shelter in place” and where they plan to go if they must leave.
5. Make a List of Evacuation Items
Keep a bin of emergency essentials for evacuation like food, water, first aid, flashlights, warm clothing, etc. Safeguard critical documents and valuables in a bank lockbox or in a water/fireproof safe bolted into your home’s foundation. Have digital copies of these important documents stored in a password protected drive with a 2-factor authentication method set up.
Visit https://www.ready.gov/plan for more information about developing an effective family emergency plan.