Family Emergency Planning

Create a plan to safely communicate with and reunite family members during an emergency.

"In a disaster, you don't rise to the occasion. You sink to your level of preparedness."

It’s so hard to prepare for an emergency…

Points to ponder

  • What season will it be?
  • What time of day?
  • Will your family be together, or away from home at school, work, etc?
  • Will cell and phone lines be available?
  • How will you communicate to find out where your family is?
  • How will you reunite?

This is a critically important focus for your family. ready.gov introduced various scenarios we might find ourselves in during an emergency, including the separation of family members. In the event that reliable communication devices are not available, such as cell phones, texting, and telephone landlines, our primary focus this month is to create a reliable plan to ensure that we can know of our family’s safety and have a plan to reunite.

Ways to Prepare

  • Formulate an  emergency family plan (what to do, items to purchase, FHE activities, and suggested ongoing maintenance.)
  • For more preparedness information, attend one of several annual Preparedness Expos sponsored by the state or communities.
  • To hear official updates during an emergency, tune your radios or battery-operated radios to 1160 AM.
  • Fire extinguishers –
    • Check annually to ensure their effectiveness
    • You can get them refilled
    • Only attempt to put out a fire using a fire extinguisher if it is no larger than our curbside garbage cans. If the fire exceeds that size, call 911 immediately.
    • Recommended to have several fire extinguishers in various areas of the house.

Actions

Personal Actions

  • Decide now the one item you can’t live without
  • Make a list of 16 items to grab in an evacuation
  • Have a duffle bag to carry those 16 items
  • Arrange an out-of-state telephone contact
  • Know how to receive emergency messages
  • Secure water heater to wall.
  • Assess in-home shelter options

FHE Activities

  • Decide on two meeting places (one outside of
    home, one outside of neighborhood)
  • Hold various preparedness drills
  • Train the family about the emergency out-ofstate
    contact:
    • Memorize phone number
    • Know to check in with that person during an emergency

Ongoing Maintenance

  • Keep gas tank at least half full
  • Hold one drill/month for FHE
    • fire drills
    • earthquake drills
    • evacuation drills
    • tabletop exercises.
  • Check fire extinguishers annually