Updated Sep. 23, 2019. Originally published Oct. 22, 2013.

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How Are Emergency Plans Different from Emergency Information?

If you’ve been following along with this series, you may be wondering: How are “emergency plans” different from “emergency information”?  Well, there is definitely some overlap.  But basically, emergency plans  are what you will actually do if there is an emergency.  You might have it written out.  You might have a plan for getting from where you are now to the point that you’d be prepared – and have that written out.  But these are the plans for what you would actually do should an emergency come your way.

There are a few things you’ll want to consider.  What you ultimately choose to include in your plans will depend a good deal on just how “out there” an emergency you feel you need to be prepared for.  If an EM surge wiped out all electronic equipment, for instance – is that something you feel the need to be prepared for?  Or are you comfortable just being ready for a brief stint of unemployment as the “craziest” thing likely to happen?  This is completely a family-by-family decision.

A few things to consider:

• If your house caught on fire, what would be your evacuation plan?  If you have young children, do they know this plan?  And, for that matter, does the plan include a means for getting them out, if they are not able to open doors?  Do you all know where to meet?  I know it sounds macabre, but it could save your lives!
• If severe weather hit your area, how would you best protect yourselves?  (What severe weather will depend on your area, but we’re talking things like tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods – how do you stay safe when these things happen?)
• If you needed to evacuate, could you do so quickly?  It’s recommended that you have a  “Bug-Out Bag” with 72 hours worth of essentials that you could grab at a moment’s notice.  If you don’t have this, do you have a plan in place to be building this stash?
• If you were without electricity, could you cook?  Bathe?  Drink?
• If you went for a while without the ability to obtain “new” food, what would you eat?  (This could be due to a catastrophe, or it could be simply due to something like job loss, that would knock out your funding source.)
• If the banks were temporarily unavailable, would you have money?
• If there were a major, widespread catastrophe, blackout, or similar situation, where our current resources could not be relied upon, what would you do for water?  Food?  Medical care?  (Even if you don’t think this is a likely eventuality you need to prepare for, it can still be an interesting exercise to think through.)

So, let’s see if we can walk through a few of these things, to ensure that some emergency plan essentials are in place.  And hopefully it will jump-start any additional plans you need to get in place.  (Do be sure to consider special needs, as well.  If, for instance, someone in your home relies on electricity for a life-supportive purpose, then backup power will be more important to you than to the average person.  If you have life-threatening food allergies, then a safe food supply will be a high priority.  You get the idea.)

Fire Prep

STEP 1a: Create a fire evacuation plan.
STEP 1b: Write it down.
STEP 1c: Go over this plan with your family and be sure everyone knows/understands it.

Consider creative solutions for evacuating children who are old enough to play in the house alone, but too small to get out the doors on their own.  When my oldest was very small, we taught her that if the house ever caught on fire and she was in her room by herself, to go under the child’s table underneath her window.  This would ensure she was near a window where we’d be able to find her quickly, it would keep her down low where the air is clearer, and the table would protect her from falling glass if we had to break the window to reach her.

(If you have any other suggestions for keeping little ones safe or evacuating them in case of fire, please share them in the comments!  This is so important!)

Severe Weather Prep

STEP 2a: Consider the severe weather threats for your area.  Be sure everyone in the home knows where to go and how to respond to stay safe.
STEP 2b: If the type of severe weather known to hit your area requires special preparation (for instance, evacuating in case of a forest fire as opposed to standing in a doorway during an earthquake), be sure the plan for this is well known to everyone in the home.  Better yet, be sure it’s also written down.

Bug-Out Bags

If you needed to evacuate, could you do so quickly?  Would it take you days of preparation?  Or somewhere in between?  We want to have the option to evacuate with just a few minutes’ notice.  That requires some advance preparation, and an occasional check on your Bug-Out Bags to be sure they’re up-to-date.

STEP 3: Find a list of supplies recommended for Bug-Out Bags.

(Hint: I’ll put a list in the resource section here.)  Among other things, you will want to have a backpack for each family member, with his own needs in it.  This is a great use for thrift store backpacks; it doesn’t matter if they match anything or if anyone even likes them.  It’s also probably helpful if they’re all different.

You’ll also want to have copies of everyone’s important documents: one copy sealed in plastic in his own bag and a second copy sealed in plastic in the family bin – which is the other major element you’ll want to have in place.

STEP 4: Buy (or set aside) a backpack for each family member.  Also buy (or set aside) a large plastic bin.

STEP 5: Make 2 copies of each family member’s important documents.  Then gather a gallon ziploc bag for each member of your family + 1.  Place each family member’s documents in his own ziploc bag, and the second copy of every document into the extra bag.

Seal these bags shut, and place them in the Bug-Out Bags/Box.

STEP 6: Create a plan for obtaining the remaining items for your Bug-Out Bags/Box, and begin working the plan.

If you have the resources to completely stock all of the bags and your Box/Bin immediately, that’s great!  You can go ahead and do that.  Many of us will need to get there gradually, though, purchasing a few extra items at a time.  Just start plugging away.

STEP 7: Make sure everyone knows the plan for getting out with these bags if it comes to it.

A couple tips:  1) If you have young children, pair them up with helpers (assuming they’re not all itty-bitty).  An older child can be responsible for not only grabbing his own bag, but also for ensuring that his younger “buddy” is accounted for and has his bag, as well.  Also, if you have an outdoor shed or something that’s safe, it could be a great place to store these items.  That way you would also be likely to have your 3 days’ worth of items if your house caught fire, because the Bug-Out Bags/Bin would not be in the house.

Long-Term Food Storage

If you were without your regular access to food and water, would you still be able to eat and drink?  Ideally, we’d all be prepared with sufficient food storage and water or water purification options to last at least six months.  I realize that’s probably not realistic for some people.  (What if, for instance, you live in a tiny apartment?  Where would you even put it?  You can get creative, but only up to a point.)  Everyone, though, should at least be prepared for a few days.

Most of us have, at one point or another, dealt with a severe winter storm or something of that nature that knocked out the electricity and made it hard to get out to buy food.  And if not that, this can come in handy even just for a few days of illness or an injury that makes the regular routine impossible.  (Be sure to replenish it afterward!)

STEP 8: Come up with at least three days’ worth of “pantry meals” – that is, meals that can be prepared solely from nonperishable foods.  Next time you go shopping, pick up any items you need to be sure the ingredients are on hand.

STEP 9: Find a food-storage plan, adapt it as necessary to your needs, and begin working toward acquiring the necessary items.

(Don’t forget to include the openers, etc.!  Can openers, bucket wrenches, hand mills for grain, pumps for large bottles of water, etc.)

Other Considerations

STEP 10: Consider what other eventualities you want to be prepared for, and create a plan.

Do you want to know how to grow your own food, and have seeds available?  Do you want to start raising chickens so you’ll have eggs? Do you want to obtain certain books in print format, so you’d have them to read if electronic devices weren’t available?  Do you need to buy flashlights, a weather radio, matches, or other preparedness tools?  Do you want a list of skills you could barter if the economy collapsed?  Do you want your favorite family photos on a thumb drive in the Bug-Out Bin?  Do you need to place an extra copy of your important documents (either paper copies or another thumb drive) with a trusted friend who does not live in your house, or in a safe deposit box?  Whatever seems needful to you, put a plan into place.

STEP 11: Print out or gather any how-to information you would like to have access to in case of emergency, and be sure it’s in a logical place.

STEP 12: Gather together all of the plans, recipes, lists, etc. that you have made over the course of the last 11 steps and put them together in an emergency binder or in an emergency tab of your household binder.

STEP 13: Add to your annual chore rotation a note to check the Bug-Out Bags to be sure they’re up-to-date.

(Clothing sizes will change; diaper sizes might change, medications might expire – that sort of thing.)

STEP 14: Be sure you have a “fall back plan” for household tasks, for more minor emergencies.

If you were partially or completely incapacitated – or your schedule just got insane – would you know which chores absolutely MUST BE DONE?

I like to have these marked on my chore lists in either red or yellow.  Red tasks are those things that absolutely have to happen every day or we don’t even function for the day.  Like, we have to eat.  That’s not optional.  You can’t just say you’ll put off dinner until Thursday if it’s Monday now, y’know?

Yellow tasks have to be done very soon, but can skip a few days if we really have to.  Eventually, the laundry will have to get done, or we will all be naked.  But if we have to skip a regular laundry day, we will survive.  Folding the laundry is entirely optional, as far as this goes.  We could live for years on unfolded laundry if it came down to it.

Marking these on the chore lists in this way makes it easy to see at a glance, when everything goes crazy, exactly what must take priority.  (Also, it makes it easier for someone who is called to step in to know what to do, if you can just tell them, “Red chores absolutely must get done.  If you do those and can still do something more, move onto the yellow ones.”)  It saves the stress of trying to figure it out on the spot.

Resources:

1. 72-hour Kit list
2. Food Storage Made Easy (food storage list & baby steps to build it)
3. Off the Grid News
4. How Do You live Without Electricity? – good information to print out

If you’re just stumbling across this, please click here for the other posts in the series.