HOME & FAMILY
Central Check In
We live in a connected society, and in normal times getting phone calls and texts from relatives and friends is welcomed with joy. But while you are handling an emergency, the last thing you need is to have the phone tied up with calls and texts of far-away people who are checking on your status.
To solve that problem, first decide on an out-of-state, central contact who will be notified as soon as possible when a natural disaster or some other emergency happens in your neighborhood.
Grandpa TJ’s Tip
Pick one dependable person for everybody to check in with. Give them everyone’s phone numbers, email addresses, and a backup contact or two. And keep a paper copy—dead phones don’t remember numbers.
The Family Emergency Playbook and Rapid Response Cards below are a good place to start. Have your check-in person keep them filled out and up to date, with copies handy for the family. A new phone number doesn’t do anybody much good if it’s only written down in the old phone.
Family Emergency Preparedness Tools
Could You Reach Your Family Without Your Phone?
Most of us don’t know our family’s phone numbers by heart anymore. This 10-minute video from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children walks you through written contacts, an out-of-state contact, and the free Playbook and Rapid Response Cards below. It’s made for emergencies, but keeping those details handy helps when somebody’s phone goes quiet, too.
Thanks to National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for the YouTube video
Free Family Emergency Playbook and Rapid Response Cards
To get a free copy of the Family Emergency Playbook or the Rapid Response Cards which are sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), click the buttons below. The downloads are in PDF format so that you can print out as many copies as you need. I recommend that every member of your family who has a mobile phone or drives a car have a copy. You may also wish to provide either of these tools to a trusted resource if your small children are in daycare.
Where to next?
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