Disaster Planning: Create a Disaster Plan for your Family
Has your family worked out an emergency plan? If not, where on earth are you waiting for? Emergencies come out of nowhere, which is exactly why we call them emergencies! Now, more than ever, you need to be prepared for both natural and man-made disasters. If you have an emergency plan in place, and have it down pat, before a disaster occurs; the better off you will be when a disaster actually does strike.
Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, fires and floods are the most common and violent natural disasters we know of and live with. Earthquakes hit over or near fault-lines. Hurricanes and tsunamis are ruthless tropical storms that start over water and bring rain, floods and strong winds inland with them. Mother Nature’s power knows no bounds.
It is very important to have basic emergency and first aid supplies in your home, well organized and easy to get to if they are ever needed. Your emergency disaster plan should include Basic First Aid and a basic knowledge of how to use them.
Sit down as a family to discuss and practice your family’s emergency plan. The plans about fire, tornado and earthquake drills need to be included. Another topic that needs to be discussed is what to do if a parent or family members are not home. Would everyone be able to safely & responsibly get through the emergency? Who is responsible for doing what task needs to be made crystal clear; as does who will take over the responsibilities of absent family members. This is a must for survival. Having and knowing a prearranged meeting place and a family code word or knowing a relative’s phone number are part of this too.
Knowing CPR and first aid procedures is a must during any kind of emergency! Even your younger children can understand the basics of both first aid and CPR. The local Red Cross offers both courses and has basic, wilderness specific and boating specific first aid handbooks and also has first aid kits available for you to buy. They also hand out checklists about first aid, disaster preparedness and CPR. Your local Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) classes are the best place to start your emergency preparation. Moreover, neighbors can participate in emergency training together, sharing their skills and keep an eye on each other.
These days our children see more and more news coverage on television than we, as adults, ever did. With all those 24 hour news channels, they see the effects of both natural disasters and emergencies far more than they need to. The best things to do are: limit what your children watch on television and sit down to talk to them about being ready for these things will help them be prepared when an emergency does happen. You should also make use of The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s website and the “Disaster Action Kid” program that they run. The better prepared you are for emergencies, the less afraid you will be of them happening.
