How to Formulate a Family Emergency Plan

Having harm come to those you love is everyone's worst nightmare. But, like writing a will or getting life insurance, it's a relief to do something about it instead of worrying about it. These effective strategies will help you prepare for the most common types of emergencies.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

General tips

1. Program clearly marked emergency numbers into your phone's speed dial.
2. Set up two meeting places: one near your house in case of a sudden emergency such as fire or home invasion, and another outside the neighborhood, such as a school or friend's house, in case you can't get home. Also designate one family member to make decisions for the whole group during a crisis, including where to meet and what to do in case plans must change.
3. Designate an out-of-town relative or friend as your contact in the event that local phone service is interrupted. Family members should phone in as soon as possible if separated.
4. Create an emergency plan for children that details who will pick them up from school or daycare should parents be unable to, where that person will take them and what the plan is to meet up again. Be sure everyone involved has all the phone numbers.
5. Discuss, locate and prepare priority items such as photos and documents to save. Have your will, insurance paperwork and all legal documents in good order (see 232 Organize Important Documents and 244 Make a Will).
6. Prepare a backpack for each family member with extra clothing, shoes, jackets, medications, diapers and wipes for babies, insurance and medical information. Include a laminated picture of the entire family with names and numbers. Keep them in a chest by the front door, in a hall closet or in the trunk of your car.
7. Keep an emergency kit, including first aid supplies, in each car. See 466 Assemble Emergency Kits.

Home invasion

8. Leave immediately if you come home to find you've been robbed. Call the police from another location and don't re-enter the house until police officers have cleared the scene.
9. Get everyone out (if you can do it safely) if you're at home during a robbery. Use fire escape ladders, if you have them, and meet at the designated nearby safe location.
10. Buy a dog or install a security system. Burglars look for easy targets; the idea is to make it harder to break into your house than someone else's.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask a firefighter, police officer or insurance agent to review your house and suggest risk-reduction strategies as well as appropriate actions to take in an emergency. See 390 Create an Evacuation Plan.
• Contact the American Red Cross (redcross.org) or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA.gov) for more information. See 105 Prepare Your Home for Nature's Worst.
• Find out about the disaster plans at your workplace and your child's school. Read 223 Prepare Your Business for the Unthinkable and 375 Improve Your Child's School.
• Take a course in CPR. Get to know your neighbors' special skills (medical, construction, electrical) and whether any disabled or elderly people require help in the event of an emergency. See 389 Set Up a Neighborhood Watch.
• Use weapons as a last resort. There are many complications: Where do you store the weapon so it's unavailable to kids or burglars? Can you unlock, load and aim a gun under pressure and in the dark? Would you kill someone over a VCR? Do you know the legal limits of self-defense? Is there a chance you could shoot your neighbors or family by mistake?