A fire breaks out in the middle of the night. A violent storm hits the neighborhood, knocking out power. A flash flood quickly fills the basement. A tornado strikes while your children are at school. Does your family know what to do if you were to be separated? Do you know who to call? Do you know where you’d meet up? What happens if you have to evacuate?
Be Prepared with an Emergency Plan
An emergency plan is a crucial component to ensure your family’s safety and security. While you may think you know what you’ll do, panic often sets in during an emergency situation. In some instances, you may even be separated when disaster strikes. When you’re prepared, you not only have peace of mind at the ready, but you may even be saving your life.
The Red Cross offers some great initial steps to help you and your family begin to prepare for an emergency should it arise:
- Meet with your family or household members
- Discuss how to prepare and respond to emergencies that are most likely to happen where you live, learn, work and play
- Identify responsibilities for each member of your household and plan to work together as a team
They also offer this test to see if you’re prepared, including tips on what to keep in your emergency preparedness kit and how to make a plan.
Looking for more resources? The U.S. Government has also created a great tool at Ready.gov that provides a plan template that will walk you through steps to create your family preparedness plan.
Taking the time now to create a plan may prevent a difficult situation from being coming worse. Will you be ready?
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Sources: fema.gov, redcross.org, ready.gov
