You may have seen a TV show or movie of the frantic parent outside of a burning house screaming their child’s name or weeping uncontrollably only to have the child appear unharmed a few (dramatic) moments later.
All of that stress and fear may be avoided by having disaster meet-up plans that the whole family not only knows but has practiced multiple times.
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But one meet-up plan may not be enough… Where your family meet up spot is located may change depending on the type and scope of the emergency. Additional factors are where you expect your family members to be at the time the event occurs.
Click on the links below to see some recommendations for different types of emergency meet-up locations and how to get the family together when separated or you are forced to evacuate.
This is an excellent video which covers Family Emergency Preparedness Tools. It also shows how to create a written record in case phones are unusable. Visit Grandpa TJ’s General Store Family Preparedness Section for downloadable copies of the Family Emergency Playbook and Rapid Response Cards mentioned in the video.
Thanks to National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for the YouTube video
This video from WhatsUpMoms goes over preparing your family for disasters, in this case an earthquake. It has a bunch of good tips for preparing your small children on what to do – including finding a family meetup location.
Thanks to WhatsUpMoms for the YouTube video.
Preparing for a Major Disaster
True Story: This IRL family lost their home during a wildfire. But even worse, it appeared that they didn’t have any kind of plan for an evacuation and lost a lot more than just the house…
Grandpa TJ: During the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego, I was watching the live, local TV news as neighborhoods just a mile away were being evacuated. One poignant scene captured was of a woman walking, seemingly in a daze, from her soon to be lost house with a potted fern. As she placed the plant into her car, I noticed that there didn’t seem to be much else in the car. She must have been in shock and was just grabbing things at random. Her family most likely lost a lot of keepsakes and valuables that day, worth far more than a potted plant. Don’t be like that lady!
Have a detailed plan of what to do during an evacuation including what to grab and where to go.
The Family Evacuation Plan link covers all of the things to consider for your family during a forced evacuation. A Bug Out List makes sure that you don’t miss key items in the rush to evacuate and finally, knowing where your family members are going and how to get there is essential.
This video from WhatsUpMoms documents the family’s actual evacuation during the California wildfires near L.A. – good news, the family and their house were OK. But the video shows that there were lessons to be learned.