Tips for a Home Disaster Plan

Posted on February 2, 2008
Filed Under Disaster Plan |

Most people spend a good deal of time making some sort of plans. We plan in which order we need to do the things we need to do in order to keep order in our lives. We plan meals, lists for shopping, routes from point A to point B and we also make daily schedules. But, how many of us have planned for an event that may separate us from being able to stay in our homes, or even trap us in our homes to where we cannot get tot safety?

If you have not planned what to do in a disaster, natural or otherwise you are unfortunately in a majority. No one really wants to plan for a disaster, so may be it is taken for granted that nothing will ever happen to you or to your loved ones to cause you to have to get to safety. But this way of thinking could be costly.

Here are some tips you can use to start your own disaster plan. These tips may end up helping you or your family survive the ordeal of a disaster if one were ever occur at your home.

Familiarize yourself with types of disasters that have occurred where you live. If you have lived in one place for a long time, you may already know this. But, if you have not lived in one place for a long time, it is wise to know historically what types of disasters have occurred or frequently occur in your area.

Learn about the disaster plans at your place of employment and also where your kids go to school. Knowing this information will help you know what you can do yourself at your own home should a disaster arise. This information would also be handy if one or more of your family members is away from your home when a disaster occurs as you would know where your loved one should be.

Plan how your family would stay in contact if you were separated. It is a good idea to have two meeting places identified, depending on the type of disaster or emergency. One meeting place should be near your home in the event everyone had to get out of the house to be safe. The other meeting place should be away from your neighborhood in case your neighborhood became unsafe.

Set up emergency phone contact. Arrange for a friend or relative who lives away from where you live to be the person everyone would call in the event of a disaster situation. The person you designate for this task should certainly be aware of your plans.

Try to have two escape rooms for each room of your house. Every room with a door and a window has two ways out. Second floor rooms need a ladder or rope escape to enable window escapes if the upstairs hallway becomes dangerous.

Identify how to shut off your home utilities. Every adult and capable child should know how to shut off the electricity, gas and water in case a need to do so arises. It should be made clear that the safety of the house should not be put above the safety of the family’s members lives. In other words, in the case of a disaster, the house has the last priority.

Develop first aid and lifesaving skills. Find some training in your area to learn first aid techniques, CPR and other lifesaving skills. In some emergencies, you will need to be self sufficient until professional help can be attained.

This list of things and is not all inclusive for developing a plan in the case of a disaster. Use it as a guideline to form your own plan that relates to your particular home, location and situation. In the case of disasters, it is always wise to have a predetermined plan.

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