CREATE A FAMILY PLAN AND ENSURE EVERYONE HAS A CONTACT LISTING

Homeland Security's Ready.Gov Site on Preparedness (Word File of Readiness Recommendations)

Are You Ready? US Guide for Preparedness by FEMA (Microsoft Word - 484KB)

Have a strategy for contacting other family members. Bill Biggs, an administrator at the Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, which helped local emergency groups prepare a "family emergency preparedness plan," recommends redundancy.  Your family should have a plan to reach each other, and if necessary, an evacuation plan to get out of harms way in a dangerous situation.

Print out cards for everyone to carry with phone numbers of both a local contact and someone else far enough away to avoid being affected by the same crisis.  Tape 35 cents to the back of the card in case cellphones are jammed but pay phones are working.

If all family members members are usually near one another, consider outfitting the house and cars with two-way radios, such as general mobile radio service walkie-talkies, which have a range of 5 to 25 miles and are available from various Web sites at $100 to $300 apiece.

Be sure you know school emergency plans. Some plans call for parents to come to the school; others want them to call a central number or make use of the Internet or parent "phone trees" to get or pass on information. On September 11, the New York City Board of Education used a Web site and the media to "get the word out very clearly that schools were open and we weren't going to be releasing 1.1 million students into the street," says spokesperson Catie Marshall.

Within your plan, be sure that family members know how to access an Emergency Survival Kit and/or a Safe Room, if necessary.

If you have only moments before leaving, grab these things and go!

• Medical supplies: prescription medications and dentures.
• Disaster supplies: flashlight, batteries, radio, first aid kit, bottled water
• Clothing and bedding: a change of clothes and a sleeping bag or bedroll and pillow for each household member
• Car keys and keys to the place you may be going (friend's or relative's home)

AWAY FROM HOME

There's a chance if emergency unfolds, it will happen while you're away from home. That's why having an emergency kit in the trunk of your car is a good practice.

Experts also say families should have a plan worked out on what to do if an emergency unfolds while they're away from home. Recommended in the plan:

-- An outside contact person. Don't rely on cell phones; they didn't work in New York during the September 11 terrorist attacks.

-- Instead, have a designated contact person out of your area for family members to call on a hard line and relay messages to each other if they are separated. Families should also have at least two designated meeting spots -- one near home, and one away from home, in case the area where you live is inaccessible.  Pick an alternative rendezvous point a mile or two away in case the house isn't accessible: a library, a friend's house (everyone needs a key), or another place with a phone.

-- Planned emergency escape routes. These should be known by family members; safety experts don't recommend back roads or shortcuts, which might be closed or affected by the emergency.

-- Typical Traveler's Emergency Kit for the Car (no food included in this example)
 

-- Another listing of Travel Emergency Supplies for the car from a non-sales organization