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Create a Emergency Preparedness Plan

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michigan

September is National Preparedness Month. I will be joining the Clorox Company and  Consumer Queen along with several other bloggers to help spread the word about Emergency Preparedness. Are you prepared?

Disasters can happen quickly without warning as we have seen with the Wild Fires in the West and the Tennessee flooding to name a couple most recent disasters. The most important steps to staying safe is being prepared BEFORE an emergency occurs. Many of the items you would need in the case of an emergency, can be stockpiled for cheap or free when you watch the sales and utilize your coupons.

When designing your emergency preparedness plan, you can implement the following three easy steps:

  • Purchase or build an emergency preparedness kit – Your kit should house enough supplies to last your household a minimum of three days for evacuations and 2 weeks for emergencies at home. Next week, I’ll offer specific tips on building a disaster kit with your family. Households should create or purchase an emergency preparedness kit with enough supplies for everyone to last three days for evacuations and two weeks for emergencies at home. Include things like: water, non-perishable food, flashlight, radio, first aid kit, a multi-purpose tool, important medications and copies of personal documents. You may also include household liquid bleach such as Clorox for cleaning and disinfecting and emergency water sanitation.
  • Make an emergency preparedness plan – Schedule a meeting in your household to discuss what to do in case you are separated during an emergency. Choose two places to meet – one right outside the house and the other outside your neighborhood. Be sure to practice and review the plan twice a year!
  • Get educated – Get to know the types of disasters (e.g. hurricanes, floods or forest fires) prevalent in your area so that you can better tailor both your kit and plan. Find out how local officials will contact residents of your city to advise of important safety information. AND, get first aid training. Learn critical techniques like CPR and how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

For more information please visit www.clorox.com/redcross and download the preparedness guide: Prepare Yourself Now for Peace of Mind Later.

Photo Credit: U.S. Army

Comments

  3. We live in Florida, so I have a hurricane preparedness kit ready for our two dogs. We have a AAA book that lists all pet-friendly hotels. Hopefully, we’ll never have to use it, but we’re ready, just in case!

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  9. Yes, we have an emergency plan–several, actually: one for a fire emergency/urgent getaway, another for situations in which we would have more time to gather items and would be planning to take care of ourselves over a longer time, and one for “sheltering in place”, in which we would need to take care of ourselves at home with no outside help or access to supplies.

    wordygirl at earthlink dot net

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  25. We have a rough plan for the really terrible kind of emergency. We don’t plan for tornadoes because we are in Kansas and are too busy storm-spotting.

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  28. We don’t have an emergency plan – yet. It’s on my to-do list, right next to figuring out our estate planning / guardianship… we have a lot of important discussions to have over the next 3 months!

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  31. Yes, we have a small one. Passports and other important documents, laptop, mobile, and a common place to meet. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  45. We don’t have a plan yet, but should get to work on one. We do own an emergency radio we use during tornado scares though!

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  50. Briana, you may want to include information on CERT’s – Community Emergency Response Teams. I am a CERT trainer here in Oregon. This training is provided FREE of charge in many communities. You will learn things such as search & rescue, fire suppression (learn the correct way to use a fire extinguisher), medical care, triage in mass casualties, extricating people who are trapped (learn the correct fire department way using materials found in your garage or neighborhood), psychological response to stress, animal safety and preparedness, and much more!

    This is truly “life training” and I recommend it especially for parents.

    Our moto, if you will, is to prepare “you” how to respond in a disaster, which will enable you to assist your family, neighbors, and your neighborhood.

    Here are two web pages that will give you more information. Look for FREE training in your area!

    http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/

    http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/preface.shtm

    In our area we have a new series of classes starting in September.

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  57. We have mooved this past year and have not made a “new plan” since we have been here. The sad part is that we just went through a tornado about a month ago and had no power for 3 days and because of all of the trees and power lines that were down we were unable to get out of our development for the first 24 hours, so we should really be on top of that. We did have other things ready.. water, food, grill and propane (it was hot cooking outside in 90 degree heat, ugh) and flashlights, batteries, candles (now I need to restock). We had a generator too, but It was 16 years old and died after the first 2 hours we used it. So we roughed it like everyone else. This is a good thing to think about and a good time to get ready for the cold months ahead.

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  84. We don’t have an emergency plan, but we really need one! We also need to stockpile food and water, especially since we live in earthquake country.

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  85. We have a fire plan and meeting place. We ride out tornado warnings in the basement and can head into our shelter if needed. Have an emergency tote with food, water, personal items and one with blankets in case we have to spend the night. ALSO have a cat carrier, litter, and food.

    Don’t forget your pets when planning for emergencies !

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  104. A kit is one of those things I’ve been slowly working on building as I find deals on items. I’m ashamed to say my family is not completely prepared.

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  105. We have a meeting place for fire and an exit plan. As far as natural disasters go, really just tornados to worry about. For that we have the weather radio and my husband, who is an avid weather watcher, so nothing ever comes as a surprise here- he always knows what’s coming. :-)

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  110. We definitely have an emergency plan for a variety of events. We review the plan and quiz our daughter periodically. She knows what to do, let’s hope she never has to exercise it. =)

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  112. My family (just my husband and myself) do not yet have an emergency plan but we leave for a trip tomorrow morning so we will have lots of hours on a plane to talk over important things like this. Thanks for the reminder (and kick in the pants)!

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  122. Sort of. We have travel lists so we can get things together in a hurry. I have things I do in advance of storms – make sure flashlights and batteries are available, ready the generator, fill tup with water, etc. Our RV can be ready to leave in an hour if necessary.

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  126. i live in south florida so we definitely have a hurricane kit – but not much of a plan … put up shutters and hunker down.

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  129. I am a FB fan already – I have a plan in progress, but not complete sadly. But, I know its very important and I have started it with some battery powered lanterns already and some batteries. I need to set a deadline and complete it.

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  140. We sort of have one in place. My hubby is a police officer and very much into being prepared for…pretty much anything. However, we still have some supplies to get as well as some more plans to develop for it all to be complete!

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  153. FB liker, email subscriber, & we have a box in the basement that is full of non-perishable items. If items are removed they always get replaced. Case of water is always by the stairs anyways (normal storage space) all important documents are in a fireproof waterproof safe that is easily movable.

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