Family Emergency Planning to the Rescue

Californians may be chuckling at Virginia’s just-shy-of-significant earthquake Tuesday. However, since living in Virginia I’ve come to the conclusion that if someone says, “Oh, a hurricane/tornado/blizzard/earthquake? Virginia never gets that,” we’re doomed to experience that particular phenomenon.

Not only do Virginians experience these “once-in-a-lifetime” natural disasters, we do it horribly. We panic, leave work and get stuck in gridlock.

Therefore, after this week’s earthquake, and with Hurricane Irene on the warpath, I thought it’d be a good time to review (make up) our family emergency plan. Here are some ways you can prepare, so when we get hit by a meteor—because “that could never happen in Virginia”—you will have response measures in place.

Get in the Know

Being connected online through social media is one of the fastest ways to find out about what’s going on. By “liking” the Facebook pages of local news media such as your local Patch, your DC news channel, your county’s school system, and government organizations such as the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) and the National Weather Service you will receive instant updates about what’s happening. Check to see if these resources also allow you to sign up for email and text alerts.

CAPITALERT is a government website that directs you to your local emergency notification system, allowing you to select notifications to your email, cell or smartphone for government closures and severe weather alerts in specific neighborhoods in Northern Virginia and the nation’s capitol. Upon registering your email and PDA, you can send yourself a test notification to make sure it works.

Make a Kit

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management provides great information about every possible natural and man-made disaster. Plus, it has an emergency kit checklist for items to have on hand.

While I might not go as far as having an actual kit available at all times, I do like running through this checklist to ensure we have all of these items in my house.

There’s a clever website for kids to learn about emergency planning. The website suggested having a family scavenger hunt to create an emergency kit. If the time comes when you do feel like you need to gather your emergency supplies, making a game out of this preparation will hopefully take away some of the scariness of the situation, and make the kids feel like they are helping.

Quick Tip: Traditional non-cordless phones, land lines, do not require electricity to operate. Keep one in the house for use during power outages.

Know the Plan

Do you know the difference between a “Secure the Building,” Shelter-in-Place” and “Lockdown” event at your child’s school? In this day and age, all schools and employers have emergency management plans they provide to the public. It is our job to read them.

These plans provide the best phone numbers to call if a crisis happens while your child is at school. While your instinct might be to race to the school to grab your child, that may not be the safest option during a crisis.

Quick Tip: Know landline phone numbers. When the cellphone towers are overloaded, you may be able to reach your loved one via landlines.

Make a Plan

Having a discussion about emergency scenarios may sound scary to children and parents alike, but it’s an important conversation to have, especially if you have school-aged children who are in a different location from you during most of the day.

The Ready.Gov website calls it the “Just In Case” plan, and provides an emergency plan for you to print and keep, as well as wallet-sized info cards for family members to carry with them.

Because your family may not be together during an emergency, a family meet-up plan will let everyone know where they should go. Just like families have meet-up locations in case of a home fire, they should also have a meet-up location somewhere in the neighborhood, such as a grocery store, and outside of our geographical region such as a relative’s house.

The Sesame Street website, Let’s Get Ready: Planning Together for Emergencies offers ways to discuss these topics with young children, and because the information is presented by our furry monster friend, Grover, the message is delivered without scaring them.

Quick Tip: It may be easier to call someone out of town than nearby. Select a relative who you all can call to let them know how you are OK.

Having a family emergency plan will provide some comfort when sending your loved ones out into the world on a daily basis.

A crisis is not something you can necessarily manage, but with some forethought and planning you can improve how you manage yourself and your family through any scary situation.