Having a plan is crucial to making sure you and those you love are safe during any emergency. Taking time to make this plan with your family is a great way to get everyone involved. Share this plan with others in your life or community; they need to have a plan as well.
What will you do? Where will you meet? Have you picked a place in your home to go and stay for protection? Do you have important phone numbers where everyone can access them? How will you let family members know you are okay? What will you do with your pets if you have to evacuate your home? Does your local emergency management agency have a registry for those with functional and access needs?
These are just a few of the questions you will need to answer to be prepared for any emergency. For an emergency preparedness plan in sign language, check out this video from the Arizona Division of Emergency Management.
Choose your safe place and make sure everyone knows where to go. In the event of a tornado, your safe place would be a small interior room with no windows on the lowest level of your home. Practice the plan by having a family tornado drill – especially during tornado season. But what if the emergency is a fire? Choose a designated spot for everyone to meet once they evacuate the home. That way, if everyone is there, there will be no need to re-enter the home to look for family members. That is very dangerous and could cause unnecessary injury or death.
