Preparing for the Unexpected

2. Get Prepared

Janie Harris, Extension Housing and Environment Specialist
Lisa Norman, Extension Assistant

You can help protect your family during and immediately after a disaster by making a family disaster plan and by creating a family disaster kit for your household. You and your family need to be able to take care of yourselves without outside help for at least 3 days.

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Families differ considerably. It's important to create a plan that fits your family's needs. Regardless, all family members need to know how to respond to severe weather or any disaster that could occur in your area.

When making a family disaster plan, you will need to consider escape routes, family communication, utility shut-off and safety, insurance and vital records, special needs, caring for animals and safety skills.

A. Escape routes: You need to know escape routes from each room in your house as well as from your neighborhood.

To establish escape routes from your house or apartment, draw up a floor plan and make sure that all family members understand the plan. Each room should have two exit points. Include all members of the household when you conduct a practice session. Be sure to select a site outside the home for everyone to meet after they've left the house.

To establish escape routes from the neighborhood, draw a map that shows all the streets and their names so that when authorities provide evacuation instructions, you will know where to go.

B. Family communication: It's important to plan how your family members would contact one another if they were separated when disaster strikes. Fill out a contact card for each family member (you may use the samples located in this booklet) and have everyone keep a copy of it in a wallet, purse or backpack for easy reference.

C. Communication with emergency personnel: If you are injured because of an accident or disaster, you may be unable to speak with emergency medical technicians. In these cases, paramedics and other emergency response personnel often turn to a victim's cell phone for clues to his or her identity and emergency contact.

You can make their job much easier by simply adding an entry in the contacts list of your cell phone: ICE. ICE stands for "In Case of Emergency." Add an entry, label it ICE, and enter the name and phone number of the person whom the emergency services should call on your behalf.

Adding this entry takes only a few moments, but it can save time for the emergency personnel who can contact your loved ones quickly. Paramedics know what ICE means, and they look for it immediately.

D. Utility shut-off and safety: For some types of disasters, you may need to disconnect utility services to your home. Natural gas leaks are the number one cause of fires after a disaster.

Be sure that responsible family members can turn off the gas, electricity and water supplies. Contact your local utility company for proper shut-off procedures.

CAUTION! : Never turn gas service back on by yourself. Service should be restored only by a trained professional

E. Insurance and vital records: In an emergency, you may not have time to gather your important documents. Make photocopies of your important documents and secure them in a safe place away from your home.

The documents that you might want to have copies of include:

1. List of medications
2. Insurance policies
3. Driver's license or other photo ID
4. Bank account information
5. Credit card information
6. Financial records
7. Inventory of home possessions
8. Cash and travelers checks

You may also want to keep an extra set of copies in your disaster supply kit along with a small amount of cash. A Personal and Family Financial Records Inventory booklet (publication number B-1330) may also be helpful. It can be ordered from the Texas AgriLife Extension Service Bookstore at http://tcebookstore.org/

F. Special needs: Because disabled, elderly, unhealthy or non-English speaking people have special needs, you must take additional steps to protect them. A few examples of people that have special needs include:

1. Hearing impaired
2. Mobility impaired
3. Single working parent
4. People who don't speak English
5. People without vehicles
6. People with special dietary needs
7. People with medical conditions

Special assistance may be available in your area. Call your local emergency management office or local fire department to ask about special assistance programs. For more information, visit www.prepare.org/disabilities/disabilities.htm

G. Safety skills: Responsible family members should know how to administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and how to use a fire extinguisher. For more information on training courses in your area, visit www.redcross.org .

H. Pet care: If you must evacuate your home, what will you do with your pets: Emergency shelters generally do not accept pets, so you need to make plans for a safe place to take yours.

Keep in mind that most animal control shelters accommodate lost and stray pet disaster victims first. They will probably be unable to take your pets.

When creating a disaster plan for pets, consider taking these steps:

Ask hotels/motels about their policies concerning pets and whether they would waive a "no pets" policy in an emergency.

Make a list of pet-friendly places.

Make a list of phone numbers and addresses of veterinarians and pet-boarding facilities.

Ask friends outside the area if they would be willing to care for your pets.

Prepare an emergency pet supply kit . You may need these items to take care of your pet during a disaster:

1. Medical and current vaccination records
2. Pet medications
3. First aid kit
4. Leash and carrier/crate
5. 3-day supply of food and water
6. Current photos in case you are separated
7. Pet beds and toys
8. Hand-operated can opener
9. Cat litter and box
10. Paper towels, plastic bags and bleach to properly handle pet waste

Create a Disaster Supplies Kit

A disaster supplies kit is a collection of basic necessities that members of a household will need during and immediately after a disaster. Every family should assemble a disaster supplies kit and keep it up to date. Individual disaster kits can be packaged in backpacks. A family-size disaster supply kit can be stored in a portable trunk or sealable plastic trash can.

Why is a disaster supplies kit important? If you are forced to evacuate from your home or shelter-in-place, you will not have time to gather the necessary supplies. Assembling a disaster supplies kit will help your family stay safe and be more comfortable after a disaster.

What does a disaster supplies kit contain? Every disaster kit should contain enough supplies to enable you and your family to take care of yourselves without outside help for at least 3 days.

Store your kit in a portable, airtight plastic container or rubber trash can and make sure they are easy to reach. One place to keep an individual supply kit is in your vehicle.

Not all family kits are the same. The size of your family kit will be determined by the number of people in your family and any special needs they might have. A basic disaster supplies kit will contain:

1. Water: Pack enough bottled water to last for 3 days. Each person requires 1 gallon of water each day.
2. Food: Choose foods that you know your family will eat and that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking. Examples include protein or fruit bars, dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter, crackers and canned juices. Also pack a hand-operated can opener and disposable eating utensils.
3. Clean air items: If there is an explosion, you may need to create a barrier between yourself and the airborne contamination. Pack nose and mouth protection masks (N-95 rating), plastic sheeting and duct tape.
4. Extra clothing: Gather one complete change of clothes, a pair of sturdy shoes and a blanket per person.
5. First aid kit: Include two pairs of sterile gloves, sterile gauze, soap, antibiotic towelettes, antibiotic ointment, burn ointment, adhesive bandages, thermometer, prescription medications and prescribed medical supplies.
6. Emergency items: Pack a battery-powered radio, flashlights, extra batteries, a whistle, shovel, basic tools, baby wipes, garbage bags, toilet paper and a state map.
7. Special needs items: If there is a baby in the family, you will need to pack formula, diapers, bottles, powdered milk, medications, baby wipes and diaper rash ointment.
8. For adults with special needs, consult with the doctor about storing prescription medications such as heart and high blood pressure meds, insulin and other prescription drugs.
9. Also include supplies for dentures and contact lenses.

Maintain your kit! Replace flashlight and radio batteries every 6 months and replace foods according to expiration dates.

For more information on family disaster plans, see the Get Prepared section at www.ready.gov/index.html .

Deciding to Stay or Go

You may be faced with the decision to evacuate or shelter-in-place. Evacuation means moving from an unsafe place to a safe place in a hurry. Sheltering-in-place is staying exactly where you are during a disaster; it may be at home, school, work or a friend's house.

Take the following into consideration when making your decision:

Listen for directions from local authorities.

Use common sense. Monitor TV or radio news reports.

Evacuation: If local officials ask you to evacuate, do so immediately. The authorities will not ask you to leave unless they determine that lives may be in danger.

If you do not own or drive a car, you will need to make other arrangements for transportation. Ask your local emergency management office about the types of public transportation available.

A few things to know before an evacuation:

1. Evacuate immediately if told to do so by authorities.
2. Listen to a local radio or TV station and follow the instructions of local emergency officials.
3. Wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and sturdy shoes.
4. Take your pets with you when you leave.
5. Grab your disaster supplies kit.
6. Use the travel routes specified by local authorities.

Sheltering-in-place: Some conditions may require that you shelter-in-place, or seek protection in your home, place of employment, school or wherever you are when the disaster occurs.

The directions for sheltering-in-place depend strictly on the type of emergency situation. Listen to local officials on how to shelter-in-place and remain there until they tell you that it is safe to leave. Here are a few incidents that require sheltering-in-place:

Tornado warning: Go to an interior, underground or wind-safe room without windows.

Chemical attack: If possible, take shelter on an upper floor in an interior space without windows and seal the space using plastic sheeting and duct tape. If you do not have a second floor, choose a room with few or no windows and a limited number of doors. Access to a bathroom is desirable.

Nuclear attack: If possible, take shelter below ground in an interior space without windows. If you do not have such a shelter, listen to authorities for the next best option.

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