A great place to begin preparations is in the Planning category of emergency preparedness. Why? Because it costs nothing. The only investment you have to make is the time to think it through, write it down and then to prepare your family. There are several components to planning and it can take some time to go through and sort out, but once you are done you have a blueprint of what you need to do to get to the end goal.
Planning for your financial, food, warmth, comms and other areas of prepardness is important, but specifically the “Planning” category is where you make a blueprint for evacuation plans, compile emergency contact numbers, meeting places and beyond.
I think people often forget about these simple items. It’s like the easiest item on your to do list that manages to take months to get crossed off, often because it’s so simple we place it on the back burner continually. To this I give this explanation. The other day I was in my car driving my 14 year old to a practice. She asked me what would happen if there was a blizzard so bad that it prevented them from going home and parents weren’t able to come pick up the students. What would happen? I knew, but clearly she didn’t and all that was required of me was to give her the information. The “planning” category needed some attention in my families personal preparedness.
So I went to work, trying to find a list of everything I should be preparing my family for. I was hoping to find a PDF file that I could print and then fill out to make my efforts most efficient…and I did. Lots of them. In many different varieties with lots of options.
A simple google search lead me to, yet again, Ready.gov specifically to their MAKE A PLAN page. This was a comprehensive approach that really leads you through your plan step by step, by asking questions and has loads of downloads, videos and help links. I really appreciated the sites reminders to consider the individuals in your home while making these plans. They consider age, pets, disability as well as a need to pay extra attention to the requirement of medical equipment, medications, etc. This could be a one stop site for this area and at the end of all 4 steps you would have, in my opinion, a comprehensive plan.
If you’ve missed the links above to take you to this page, click HERE.
The next site I went to was, of course, the Red Cross‘s site. I really appreciated the link they had detailing out the types of emergencies that potentially could happen and their detailed “what to do” in each scenario. Not just a step by step plan of emergency lists, contacts and documents to have on hand like the above site, this site helps you to know what the plan would be before, during and after each event that was a potential threat. From earthquake, to flood, to flu to drought and many more. I thought this would be a good print out to add to a 3 ring binder as sort of a “how to” guide for potential situations. Like the instruction pages in your first aid kit on how to treat a burn or cut…this would be your “how to” to get you through an event. As a side note, this is something you should look at BEFORE an event would happen. Can you imagine if you’re running around your house trying to find out where to go and whether it’s a doorway or a bathtub you should be in while an earthquake is rumbling? I know…common sense, but I just wanted to put that out there. Use it for preparation, the copy on hand is just for further reference.
For link for the types of emergencies and what to do before, during and after, click HERE.
In addition to this nugget of information, the Red Cross also provides their own variation on documents and printables for you to fill out as well as using the method of question asking for you to consider as you fill these out for a more comprehensive finished product.
The link for this page of their site is HERE.
If either of these sites aren’t fitting you tastes, another site I found with great printable and downloadable documents for you to use is by Emergency Essentials. It’s not as comprehensive, but may appeal to the simple approach. It has a few other pretty good downloads you can use in the other 13 areas of preparedness. No, they don’t sponsor me in any way, but yes, I do like their site and their brick and mortar stores for supplies and information. Just my taste, not my obligation to include them here.
A link to their downloads is HERE.
You can find a plethora of other ideas in a simple google search as well as on Pinterest. The most important thing is to find something that works for you and your needs. If you don’t find it…CREATE it yourself by using some of these sites to give you ideas on how to customize. One of the great links I love on several of these sites above is the use of wallet size printables you can put in your purse, kids back backs, at work and so forth. Just good sense creating a simple compact version of your main plans at home. Seems like it would be also good sense to create a binder that stores all of this information in one place for future reference. I will be creating 2 versions of this binder. One that holds personal and sensitive information that I will store in a fire safe and one that I will store with the rest of my preparedness items in my basement.
Lastly, I think it’s important that you take into consideration where you live and what emergencies could happen in your area. For example, if you lived in Florida, I doubt it would be pertinent to create a blizzard plan of action, while where I live, hurricane plans of action may not do much good. For this reason, I think the Red Cross provides great information to help in this area.
Planning is important, don’t skip it!