Make a Plan: How to Make a Family Emergency Plan

A good emergency plan is the second step in preparing your household to deal with a disaster. The first step in preparing for a disaster is to assemble a kit of emergency supplies. The purpose of a family emergency plan is to ensure that every member of your family knows what to do, where to go and how to communicate with family members in an emergency.

One basic part of the plan is to write down essential telephone numbers and locations for each family member. In some emergencies, local telephone circuits can be overwhelmed. So, it's also important to have the phone number of a long distance contact who can coordinate communications between family members. Each family member should also know how to send text messages as sometimes they are the only communications that can get through when circuits are jammed.

Fortunately, developing an emergency communications plan is relatively easy. The Family Emergency Plan template available from ready.gov has spots to record a variety of essential information. You can record multiple work locations for each family member, multiple school locations for each child, and evacuation locations. You can also record telephone numbers for your insurance companies, doctors, pharmacists, veterinarians, and other vital contacts. The plan from Ready.gov also includes contact cards that you can fill out, cut out, and have each member of the family carry. FEMA and the Ad Council have also teamed up to create online applications and widgets to help you develop a family emergency plan.

To create a realistic emergency plan, you swww.ready.govhould list the types of emergency scenarios that your family might encounter. You should start with the most likely of emergency scenarios first. For example, what will you family do in case of a house fire? Then, you should consider the types of weather emergencies and natural disasters occur most frequently in your area. Where will you shelter in the event of a tornado? Will you evacuate for a hurricane and where will you go? How will you deal with a blizzard? What if a wildfire threatens your home? How will you handle an earthquake? How will you deal with prolonged power outage? What if terrorists attack with a weapon of mass destruction? For some of the more extraordinary types of emergency, you may have to research what type of response is appropriate for your family. Fortunately, there is an abundance of information about disaster planning. Sources like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross can help you formulate responses to the most likely emergency scenarios.

Once you've developed your family emergency plan, you need to communicate it to each member of the family. You'll need to make sure that they know the plan and can carry out their assigned role in the plan. Some aspects of the plan may have to be rehearsed and tested. For example, if you are relying upon relatives in a distant state to be your long distance emergency contact, have your kids call those relatives sometime to say hi, get familiar with the number, and know the process for making a long distance call. If you have a bag of emergency supplies, take them with you on a family vacation, live with them, and see if you are missing any essential items. If you plan to board up your house and evacuate from the path of hurricane, try boarding up a window or two and see if you can do it successfully.

While it may seem silly to develop a plan and rehearse it, you are being realistic and prepared. Local, state and federal authorities create plans and have drills to deal with emergencies. Schools and offices have regular fire drills. Big businesses create elaborate disaster recovery plans and test them to see if they can keep operating in an emergency. If your family has developed an emergency plan, foreseen likely emergencies, and rehearsed appropriate responses to emergencies, you will feel more secure and be better equipped to cope with an actual emergency situation.

Sources:

Ready.gov