Emergency! What's the Plan?
It's fire season in Southern California again. Plus, we are years overdue on the gigantic earthquake that is supposed to decimate Los Angeles. So when I got an email asking me to create an emergency plan for my family, I sat up and took note. A few years ago I asked my husband what the plan would be if we got hit with a major earthquake. "We'd go to my parents' house," he replied."Your parents live 700 miles away," I said.
"We'll walk."
And that's been the extent of our plan up until now. But the State of California has put together a really cool site where you can go to assess your risk and create a detailed emergency plan for your family. Don't think you need to do this? Well just ask yourself if you and your partner both know the answer to these questions:
- Who is your local, non-family emergency contact?
- Who is your out of state contact?
- Where is your designated local meeting place in case you can't go back home?
- Where is your designated regional meeting place in case your town is a disaster area?
- Do you know your children's school or preschool phone numbers and address in case emergency strikes during a school day?
- Does everyone in your family know the phone numbers of your pharmacy, health insurance, physician and/or homeowners insurance?
I hadn't though about a lot of these. And I live in an area where disaster isn't a question, it's inevitable. But even my brother in law who lives in the Chicago area was woken up in the middle of the night this April by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. In Chicago. Who saw that coming?
The site also gives some really good tips such as:
- Send a copy of your plan to your emergency contacts and parents so that in case of emergency, they know where to look for you as well.
- Duplicate important documents such as birth certificates, insurance documents, deeds, and store with your emergency kit.
- Find out what emergency plan is at your child's school so you know where to go to find them in case the school is affected.
So I really encourage everyone to fill out the disaster plan whether or not you live in California. The site also provides wallet sized cards with your most important emergency numbers. Your cell phone may be out of batteries just when you need your contact numbers so make sure to have something written down. Just a tip, print out the form before you complete it - I had the form reset on me twice when I attempted to fill it out online. Then MAKE SURE to give copies of it to your emergency contacts and family members. There is also a book you can customize and print out that helps teach your kids about dealing with emergencies, but honestly, who has the printer ink for that. But do have a frank discussion with them about what to do in an emergency.
Has anyone been in a large-scale disaster before? Were you prepared? What would have done differently? I've lived here for four years now and still haven't felt a big quake but every day I get more and more nervous about what I'm due. Sorry to be so preachy today, but get prepared, people!
Comments
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
is a really good, detailed calculator. We're working diligently towards meeting that goal. We're working on getting more water as well.
We have a basic emergency plan- but I need to print out those card and add them to our 72-hour kits- I'm pretty sure the phone numbers in ours are outdated.
I think if there were an emergency and we were 'on the move' for 3 days or less we'd be fine. If there were an emergency and we were homebound I think we'd also be okay. If there were an earthquake (our largest likely natural disaster where we live)and our home burned down we'd have to rely on the goodness of our neighbors. But that doesn't really stress me out- they're pretty nice. ;)
I've never been in a large scale natural disaster though- so maybe I'm underestimating our abilities and preparedness levels.
Good post!
A while back I was contacted by the one of the top team members at CA. Volunteers regarding my blog. (I blog every Tuesday on self reliance and emergency prep. We are currently building no/low cost 72 hr. kits.)
Anywho, the website can be a bit cluttered, but I can't recommend it enough! PLEASE everyone, take the time to go through their links, they have terrific info for every one, not just those of us in CA.
Click on the links here and have a great time searching!
Do one thing each week to prepare. Don't get so overwhelmed that it paralyzes you into postponing your preparedness.
Don't worry, just do one thing!
Add one extra meal in the cart. One extra blanket to the cupboard. Etc.
(Ideas at my place if you want/need them.)
The only preparation we've put into this is having extra food in the deep freeze and extra canned/dry food. We're not in immediate danger at our home (other than having extremely squishy lawns for a good while). Although, one year (this was about 4 years ago) I was trying to get to class for a test I was having out on campus, and I eventually had to turn back and come home... unfortunately the entrance ramp onto the highway I took was very steep and a lot of water was rushing downwards... it actually pulled my anti-lock brake system cable off one side and the cable was dangling from the back of my car the rest of the way home!
I'm hoping that we don't have torrential rain for an entire month like last year's July... that would REALLY be a bummer and it's not something I want to deal with again so soon!
I'll tell you, though, I spend a lot of time in the IU Geological Survey, and were they excited...
We don't get many earthquakes here in PA, but there is always some disaster looming, I'm sure. thanks
One warning, though, for those of you who are filling out the linked disaster plan (which is really great, btw): I'm not sure if this is a Mac thing or what, but when I stupidly followed a link within the document, I lost everything I had typed into the document.
I live near Yosemite in California which is a high risk wildfire area. We even had a hard time getting homeowners insurance. Most of our neighbors who have lived here longer than us have been evacuated due to fires multiple times. I have felt strongly impressed that we need to get evacuation bags ready to go for this summer. And, after 10 years of marriage, are finally getting somewhere on our year's supply.
There is such a genuine feeling of peace when you know you have done what you can to prepare, or are at least working toward it.
Even minor disasters shut stuff down. You have to have supplies on hand. You have to have a plan.
Getting word out on jammed cell lines was a huge problem. It was easier to reach people far away than close by.