PLANNING FOR DISASTER

WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?

Every individual, every household should develop and practice an emergency plan. 

• Talk to your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about how to prepare for and respond to emergencies. 

• Talk to your neighbors to learn what resources they have, and how they might be pooled to help each other. 

• Learn each person’s needs and abilities – is someone vision impaired, hearing impaired, or mobility impaired? In an emergency, you might need to communicate with someone who is hearing and/or speech impaired or cannot read. Or maybe you are you that someone, needing to communicate with a first responder.  Checkout out these communication aids.)

• Develop 1-to-1, mutual support agreements with one or more neighbors (“e-prep buddy system”). 

• Identify each person’s role and plan to work together as a team. 

• Choose two places to meet up after a disaster – one near your home; one outside your neighborhood, in case the entire area is affected by a larger disaster. 

• Practice evacuating your building. 

• Choose an out-of-state contact. Everyone in your family should have that person’s phone number and check in so everyone can find out that they’re safe. After a disaster, local phone lines may be down or jammed. It may be easier to make a long-distance call than a local one. 

• Learn what you need to do for your pet in a disaster situation. 

• If you have children in school or daycare, ask about the school’s emergency plan. 

• Secure bookshelves, appliances, and hanging objects; store heavy objects on low shelves; use cabinet door latches.

• Make copies of important documents (ID, insurance, financial) and store them in a waterproof container.