Emergency Preparedness Plan - How to Make Emergency Preparedness Plan

How to make an Emergency Preparedness Plan

An emergency preparedness plan is the key to successfully ensuring the safety of you and your family during any major disaster. Whether it be fire, hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake, or any other situation arrive, having an emergency plan in place will help everyone escape safely from the disaster. To help make things a little simpler when the stressful time of reacting to events beyond your control, a plan that has previously been discussed and practiced can help ease your mind.

They key to making these emergency plans is to remember no plan is perfect and they should be re-evaluated continuously to make sure they are effective. Many factors can cause plans to be outdated such as, smaller children growing up and needing less assistance, family members leaving the home, or simply changes to the house being made. The first step in making a solid plan is to know exactly what the plan is suppose to be designed for and an ultimate goal. There is a big difference in what should occur during an emergency as the protocol would not be the same for a hurricane and a fire. The more time that is taken in the initial planning stage the smoother things typical are once the plan is being tested and in place.

That brings us to the second step of testing our plan. While a lot of things look great on paper, sometimes they just do not work out the way we had planned them to when it is time to actually walk thru the plan. It is absolutely crucial that the whole family be sat down and explained of what needs to actually happen if one of these emergencies takes place. Clarity is the difference between a smooth operating emergency plan and a panic stricken family in which could place loved ones in harms way. Little things can be forgotten such as accommodations for family on the second floor of a home, multiple meeting locations, or just too much unorganized information being given.

Once the emergency preparedness plan has been thoroughly planned and tested, then you are getting close to making your family safer. A plan should be made for each individual type of disaster that fits the region in which you live. This includes hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, fires, and terrorism. The importance level of each plan is determined by the location of your home, as particular areas are more likely to see certain types of disasters as opposed to others.

Finally, you reach the last step of the process. That is practice, practice, and practice. We hope these plans that you have worked so hard to make are never actually used. However, these plans must be reviewed at least annually and practiced on a suggested schedule of every three to six months for families with older children or adult only household and short reminder sessions monthly for homes with smaller children. Also, make sure to post your plans somewhere that all members of the family can get access to anytime they might want to review them. The refrigerator has been a proven to be an easy place that is readily available and works as a great reminder.
Now, that all the hard work is done, you can know your family is a well-trained machine that will react properly if ever placed in danger due to disasters.