Emergency Planning

Do you have a plan if there is an emergency or natural disaster in your home town? Does your whole family know about that plan? You may have ideas about what you'd want to do in an emergency, but if you haven't made an official plan for yourself and with your family, you may find yourself in a very undesirable situation. Emergencies can often take away your ability to think clearly, and if you haven't made a plan in advance, you may not know what to do or where to go, and you may also be worried about what your family will do or where they've gone. We suggest that you sit down with a pen and paper and your entire family and go over any emergency situations that you can think of and what everyone should do (this could be a great FHE idea). Here are some suggested questions you should consider in your emergency planning:

• What do you do if you have a good warning about a possible emergency situation (huge snow storm, hurricane, flood, etc.)?
• Do you stay in town, or do you try to make it to a distant family or friend outside the disaster zone?
• What do you do if you have a warning, but a very short one (tornado, storms, etc.)?
• Do you find the safest place in your house to take cover, or do you attempt to make it to a neighbor's house? (if the neighbor is far away, that may not be the best idea)
• What happens if there is a natural disaster and your family is not all at home/together?
• What if someone's at work and someone's at home?
• What if each spouse is somewhere away from home, but you're not together?
• What if you have children at school or a friend's house?
• What do you do after a natural disaster where you were separated from your family?
• Natural disasters can often stop cell phones from working; do you have a rendezvous point if you can't contact anyone? 
• Do you have an alternative rendezvous point if your primary one was destroyed or made inaccessible? 
• Do you know where you would go or what you would do if, after a disaster, your home is no longer an option to stay at anymore?

Once you figure out all the plans for your family, make sure every member of your family who might end up alone during a disaster can repeat the plan from memory (this includes children who are old enough to be at school or a friend's house without you). Then, write down all your plans and revisit them often (every six months when you should be checking and updating your 72-hour kit is an excellent time to go over these plans). As time goes on and life and circumstances change, you may need to make changes to your plans, so make sure you don't forget this step.

As we've said before, these kinds of posts are not meant to frighten, but to empower you. Thinking about these possibilities right now may be uncomfortable, but in the event of an emergency it can be very calming to know that you already know what you need to do, and to know that your family knows what to do too. "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30)