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How To Prepare Your Family For A Home Emergency

An emergency can strike your home at any time. In order to keep your family safe in the event that a disaster strikes, it is important that you prepare for it. One of the most important things you can do for the safety of your family is to create an emergency plan. Here are some additional tips for preparing your family for a home emergency.

    1. Figure Out How You Will Communicate With Your Family
      It is possible (and likely) that your family will not be together when an emergency strikes your home. How will you get into contact with each other? Write down emergency contact numbers.
    2. Make An Emergency Kit
      The first step to prepare your family for a home emergency is to gather some supplies ahead of time. Ensure that you keep them all together. Some items to include are water, a first-aid kit, a flashlight, food that won’t go bad (like granola bars), extra house keys, small bills and a cell phone with a charger, to get you started. Be sure to also include emergency contact information. It can also be beneficial to include copies of important documents, such as licenses and insurance.
    3. Devise an Emergency Plan
      • Figure out what emergencies your family might be more susceptible to given your location.
      • Discuss how to stay safe in the event of different types of emergencies. For example, in a fire, it is important to stay low and to close all doors behind you.
      • Choose an appropriate meeting spot; for example, in the event of a fire, this will be outside your home, while in the event of a home invasion, it might be the spare bedroom. Consider what you might do if you happen to get separated.
      • Figure out how to escape each room. Ensure that each room has two ways to exit.

You can also create an emergency plan online and print it out. Keep this document with the rest of your emergency kit.

  1. Practice Your Plan
    It is important to do a dry run of each possible emergency scenario that could arise in your home. This is important for all members of your family, but especially for children.