Designing a Communications Plan
Disasters rarely happen at the most opportune time. You and your family will most likely be separated with some at school, some at work, some at home and other places. It is important to think about how you will communicate in these different situations if a disaster were to strike. There are three main contacts that need to be included in your plan along with a way to be able to contact them.
Emergency Personnel Phone Numbers
Everyone needs to know how to get in contact with emergency services. They need to know when and what to do when calling 9-1-1. They should know the difference between 9-1-1 and other emergency services. They should also know how to get in contact with poison control, fire department, police department, ambulance or other important emergency services. An easy way to remember these is by making sure they are posted by all the phones in the house.
Local Contacts
You should also have a local person that can pick up your kids if needed. Make sure that there is a secret password that only you, your children and this person know. This will protect your kids from strangers that might take advantage of them. If you are shopping, at work or not near your children, it would be beneficial to have a local person you can contact and they can pick up your children.
Out of State Contact
You should designate an out of state friend or family member to be your “Out of State Contact”. When an emergency happens, each member of your family should contact this person. This gives you one person, who is not involved in the emergency that can act as a central hub of communication for all family members. This person needs to know and agree to be the out of state contact. They need to know under what circumstances they will be called and what actions to take.
How to Contact
Regardless of the situation, family members need to know who to contact and what to do in an emergency. That means they need a cell phone, prepaid card or coins to be able to get a hold of emergency contacts. It might be wise to have these people programmed in your cell phone. I have my wife as WIFE in my cell phone and local and out of state contacts as ICE (In Case of Emergency) Local and ICE Out of State Contact in my cell phone. This makes it easy for your family and emergency personnel to find your contacts. You can also find cell phone apps that have this, SMS and other features built in for In Case of Emergency contacts.
Another way is to have an emergency contact card. Make sure that each family member has one in their purse, wallet or backpack. I have found the best emergency contact card on the FEMA website. You can click on the image below for a downloadable and editable copy.
One of the most stressful parts of an emergency is lacking knowledge. A good communications plan allows you to understand everyone’s situation. Now is the time to create your communications plan.
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