RSSFamily Disaster Plan
Home Preparedness, Lists checklist, contacts, home, planning 1 Comment
Planning for a natural disaster can save your life and family. Having the proper supplies can go a long way to minimize your vulnerability during a disaster. One of the most overlooked aspect is a family disaster plan.
It’s important to meet as a family and discuss the types of disasters that are most likely to affect you and your family. This basic understanding can go a long way to minimize anxiety for family members should they be faced with a crisis situation.
Planning For Survival – Meeting Place
It’s possible that during a disaster, family members may not be together. For this reason it is important to have a meeting place that can be used as a gathering point should they not be able to get home.
When selecting a place, pick one just outside you home that could be used in the event of a fire, gas leak or other situation that prevents you from being inside your home. This will make it easier to find everyone without having to go around your property to find other members.
Plan a secondary location outside your neighborhood that can be used in the event that your neighborhood is not accessible. During some types of disasters, it might not be possible to travel to the primary meeting place due to fallen trees, downed power lines or road closures.
Communication During a Disaster
As mentioned before, it is likely that not every member of your family will be together when disaster strikes. This is the reason a communication plan is an important part of your family disaster planning. You should designate a friend or family contact that does not live in your immediate area that can be the central communication point. It has been said that it may be easier to contact someone long distance than it will be to make a local call in an affected area.
The number for this person should be included on everyone’s cell phone and they should be reminded of this primary contact. You should also include this number on your survival gear checklist so it is available in the event your cell phone is not working. As a secondary method, consider texting between family members. Many times, a text message can make it through a network when a voice call fails.
Evacuation Routes for Survival
Even if you are home and disaster strikes, you may be forced to evacuate. If you had to leave your home, do you have an alternate location you could use? Consider where you could go if you had to leave and how you would get there. The quickest route might be a highway, but it could be gridlocked with others trying to evacuate as well.
Consider alternate routes that might be less congested and allow more options should you have to modify your plans. The alternate routes are just like the items we keep on hand for survival. They might not be as good as the original, but they do give us options and flexibility. This type of planning reduces our vulnerability to a disaster and is the whole idea behind survival planning.
Pet Disaster Plan
If you have pets, you need to consider what you would do with them during a survival situation. Specifically, I am asking you to consider what you would do if you had to evacuate. Could you take them with you in your vehicle along with your other supplies and family members? If you are planning to stay at the closest shelter, keep in mind that many of these operations do not allow for pets.
I can’t tell you exactly what to do in this situation, you need to think about your options and those situations you are most likely to encounter. I can tell you that if you have pets, it is your responsibility to consider options for them.
Having a survival list and supplies is a good practice, but having a plan for handling potential situations will save you and your family a lot of time if you are ever faced with a disaster situation. Take the time to empower all family members with the information they may need if you aren’t around to guide them.
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