Sometimes It seems like an insurmountable job to be prepared for the proverbial rainy day that may come down the road. But getting it done is really not that hard and should be done no matter what.
The Family Emergency Plan – Let’s get started
1. Sit down with your family members and decide how you will get in contact with each other in an emergency. Possible methods may be by cell phone, texting, email, or a standard land line.
2. Once you figure this out, document the contact information on both a master sheet and on wallet sized cards to be carried by all family members these cards can be gotten off of the www.ready.gov website. This document will become your “Family Communication Plan” and it will form the cornerstone of your family emergency plan. It will list all family members, their date of birth, and other important information. Include a photo for each person as well as any important medical information. Also include a contact number for an out of town contact person.
3. Determine a meeting place where you will meet in the event you can not get home. This may be your workplace, the home of a parent or relative, your church or even at a school if there are children involved. Whatever you decide, you will need at least three possible locations:
- Your home or the home of a designated family member
- On the wall at your home make sure you have a map on how to evacuate from your residence in case of a fire. a nice way to make this is from this site. http://www.fire.qld.gov.au/communitysafety/home/evacuation.asp
- A safe meeting place near home
- A safe meeting place outside your immediate neighborhood
4. Determine the best evacuation routes from your home or workplace to the safe meeting places. It is important to practice your evacuation at least four times a year. We here do it at season change.
5. Prepare a list of all workplaces along with the address, telephone number, and closes evacuation location in the event getting to the pre-designated meeting place is not possible.
6. Also prepare a list of all schools that are attended by your children along with the address, contact names, and telephone numbers. Contact the schools now to learn about their own emergency evaluation policies and procedures.
7. Prepare a list of your doctors and your veterinarian along with their telephone numbers and a list of all your medications.I also keep a flash drive with a copy of all your medical records for each of the family members. today even your xrays are available for you to get on cd. Keep all this information handy so if you decide to travel and something happens you have all the records at your fingertips to give to a doctor in another state city etc.I also keep them all on a flash drive that I carry around my neck with my allergic response tag. depending on your records size it can seem to be a huge job but is well worth it. I save mine in two forms both in text form ( which can be opened by any word program) and PDF version.
8. Prepare a list of your insurance policies, including the carrier, the telephone number for claims, and the policy number itself. Include health insurance, homeowners or rental insurance, life insurance policies along with this I suggest that you walk around your home and take a picture of every room from one side then the other. In case of a devastating flood or fire it is easy to remember the big things but when it comes to the small things you will forget just what you have. I also recommend that you keep a list of all your medications along with a three day supply I do this with a key chain cannister available at any retail or drug store.
9. Consider creating a phone tree. Think of your phone tree as a pyramid where the person at the top of the pyramid contacts two people, who each call two more people, and so on, until every person on the tree has been contacted. This will allow you to distribute information quickly without redundancy and without placing the burden of work on one person.
10. Store all if the information you have carefully compiled in multiple locations:
- Your bug out bags and go-bags and in your 72 hour kits
- Your family preparedness binder ( Keep a copy of all the pictures of your personal belongings in this binder)
- On a flash drive that you carry with you Keep a copy of all your records and your pictures of your personal belongings on this drive as well.
- In your desk drawer at work ( a cd burned with a copy of all your records is excellent and space saving)
- In a Safe deposit box at your local bank.
- on a business card emergency list
One easy way to get started is to go to the FEMA Ready site where you can fill out much of this information online. You can then print out the online document and add the supplemental information on your own. You will find the fill-in form here: Family Emergency Plan Fill-In Form.
Whatever you do, do not fall prey to rip-off artists who will want to charge your hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to prepare a Family Emergency Plan for you.
Then don’t forget to practice your evacuation plan and to test your escape routes. Your safety – and your life – may depend on it.
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