In our unpredictable world, being ready is essential as unexpected events can strike any time. Family emergency plans are crucial to ensure everyone knows what to do, even if you’re not together.
Having a plan that guarantees you can stay in contact and locate each other afterward is vital. You have to ensure that all members in your family are aware about what needs to be done in case of unexpected events.
Here are some useful tips for preparing for unforeseen circumstances:
Create an Emergency Plan for Your Family
Develop a thorough emergency plan for family and ensure everyone knows and remembers it. Review the plan regularly, such as every six months or when the clocks change, to keep it fresh in everyone’s mind.
- What Should Be in Your Emergency Plan
Hazard Identification: Know which items in your house could be hazardous in an emergency. - Evacuation Routes: Determine how to evacuate each room in your house.
- Meeting Locations: Choose two locations for your family to get together in the event of a separation: one near your house and one farther away.
- Emergency Contact: Assign your family’s emergency contact to a friend or relative who lives outside of the province.
- Prepare emergency kits for each member of the household.
- Utility Management: Instruct family members on how to use a fire extinguisher, phone 9-1-1, and switch off the utilities.
- Special Arrangements: Make plans for aging family members and others with unique need.
- Document Safety: Make photocopies or store digital copies of vital documents, like birth certificates and bank statements, on a memory stick.
Planning for Different Emergencies
Consider various types of emergencies, like house fires, snowstorms, power outages, or hurricanes. Plan how you’ll contact each other and reconnect if separated. Identify the supplies needed for each situation and decide where you would go if you needed to leave your home.
How to Draft a Flexible Emergency Plan
Put the Plan in Writing
Never rely on your memories. Use a family emergency plan form to note critical contact information and to document your family’s emergency protocols. Ensure everyone in the household has a copy, kept in accessible places like wallets, purses, or backpacks.
Consider Specific Needs
Plan and prepare according to your own daily requirements and obligations. Don’t forget to account for the elderly, people with special needs, people who don’t speak English, and pets. For easy access in case of an emergency, keep a health information form with each family member’s blood type, medical conditions, and prescriptions.
Relocation and Accommodation in Spot
Go from your house as soon as possible if you must evacuate. Decide on two locations for your family to get together: one close by and one beyond the neighborhood. Find pet-friendly shelters if you have pets.
If it becomes necessary to shelter in place, choose one room in your house and stock it with provisions to last for three days.
Make sure it is stocked with necessities to keep everyone nourished, safe, and well. Find out what should be in your go bag and shelter-in-place kit, such as games, novels, and other kid-friendly materials or supplies for child care.
Execute Your Plan
Practice your family’s emergency plan on a regular basis. Conduct fire drills using different exits each time and practice reaching your emergency meeting places. Hold household meetings to review your plans and ensure children practice calling and texting emergency contacts.
Be Prepared at Home
Together with you, your family may create and practice an emergency plan that will provide young children and teenagers with the knowledge and resources they need to be prepared for, during, and after disasters. Never forget that being ready begins at home.
Follow the above steps and prepare yourself and your family for the unexpected events.
Stay Safe!
