How to Create a Communication Plan for Emergencies

Information may not be reliable

• Collect the contact information of each of your family members, including email addresses and phone numbers as well as schools, doctors, medical facilities and insurance providers. 
• Identify someone outside your community or state who can be a central point of contact to help your family reconnect and add their contact information to your file. 
• Local phone lines can sometimes be jammed during a disaster, which makes a long-distance call with someone who can coordinate meeting points for you easier. 

• Review your kid's school emergency response plan, discuss it with your family, and let your kid know who might pick them up if an emergency occurs. 
• Teach your children about emergency preparedness for them to better understand what to expect and what to do during a disaster.
• Sign up for the school's emergency alert system so you'll be immediately notified if ever an emergency happens during school hours. 

• Indoors: Discuss with your family the areas to go to for protection in case an earthquake, a tornado or other natural disaster strikes, such as closets, bathrooms and other small, interior, windowless rooms.
• Outdoors: Think of a safe place for your family to meet outside if a disaster forces you to evacuate your home. 
• Outside of your city: If you have to leave your city, choose a meeting place that everyone knows the address of and the way to get there safely in case you get separated during the evacuation process. 

• Make written copies of your contact list and the addresses of each of your designated meeting points and distribute a copy to each family member.
• Share a copy of this contact list with a friend or family member who lives away or out of your area. 

• Familiarize each family member with each of your emergency meeting points.
• Encourage family members to memorize important phone numbers and who to contact during an emergency.
• Discuss about what to communicate during and after the disaster, including which messages are ideal to send through text or through a phone call.
• Review your plan at least once a year and make updates as necessary. If you need help in creating your plan, check the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) family emergency communication plan.
  
  

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