A Family Emergency Guide Contents This publication and Ready.wv.gov are tools provided by West Virginia Citizen Introduction 1 Corps with funding from the West Virginia Before an Emergency 2 Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to help you and Four Steps to Ready 3 your families get ready for any kind of Building Your Plan 3 disaster. Your Home 5 Evacuation 8 Thank you to all of the agencies that Financial Readiness 9 support citizen preparedness and response in West Virginia. Special thanks Just for Kids 10 to the West Virginia Division of Homeland The Mountain State 12 Security and Emergency Management, Volunteer West Virginia, and the West Natural Disasters 12 Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Manmade Disasters 13 Public Safety. Hazardous Materials This is the second edition of Getting Terrorism Ready. Special thanks to Curt Bury from Public Health Emergencies 14 the Jefferson County Red Cross for his Pandemic Flu 14 work on the original version, Mitzi Miller West Nile Virus 15 for her help with the content updates, Anthrax 16 Bryan Boyd Creative Group for the design, Botulism 16 and to volunteers across the state who devote hours of their time to helping During an Emergency 17 families prepare for and respond to The Emergency Alert System 17 emergencies. Emergency Shelters 18 .................................................... Shelter in Place 18 At Home Emergency 19 Who can use this book? Basic First Aid 20 Families, individuals, community groups, Talking to Your Kids 21 teachers, housing developments, Taking Care of Pets 22 church groups, social clubs, employees, volunteers. After an Emergency 23 How to use this book? Returning Home 23 • As a guide for you and your family Cleaning Up 24 • As a resource before, during and after Coping 25 an emergency Your Finances 25 • As a way to teach others and get your Family Emergency Plan 26 community involved in taking steps to be prepared Family Supply Emergency Checklist 27 Additional Resources 28 West Virginia Citizen Corps 28 Emergency Phone Numbers 29 Online Resources 29 www.volunteerwv.org Introduction Anything can happen at any time. You can’t always expect that fire This booklet provides families, fighters or paramedics will be available. neighborhoods and local communities Sometimes you need to rely on yourself. in West Virginia easy access to basic Look carefully at the information information on how to prepare for included in this book and adopt just emergencies. Being ready ahead of one suggested technique. Even small a disaster is the most critical action changes make a big difference. you can take to protect the things that matter most: your family, your home, your pets, yourselves. Get Ready, West Virginia. Just in case… ReadyWV! The likelihood of surviving a house fire depends just as much on whether there are working batteries in your smoke detector as on the fire fighters who arrive to help. The same is true for other emergencies. Preparing in advance is critical to keeping your family safe. ready.wv.gov Before an Emergency The Essentials People never expect emergencies. That is why they can be so harmful. Getting ready in advance is the best way to minimize damage. Whether the emergency is big or small, there are some things your family should always have on hand. Three things you can’t do without… Four things you will wish you had… • Water • Food • Flashlights • Medicines • Radio • Bank Records • Warm Clothes and Blankets 2 Four Steps to Ready The following sections provide tips, tools and resources for taking steps to protect your family. Build an emergency plan, prepare your home, prepare to evacuate, and improve financial preparedness. It is easy to take just one step toward getting your family prepared for an emergency. For instance, you can go check your smoke alarm right now, or talk with your family at dinner tonight about where your meeting place should be. Instead of taking one step, we hope you will make progress in four areas. Building Your Plan One of the most effective ways to • Your family should know that if prepare your family for a disaster is landline or cellular telephones are not to create a family emergency plan. working, they need to be patient and Meet with your family to discuss why try again later or try e-mail. Many you need to prepare and explain the people flood the telephone system dangers of fire, severe weather and when emergencies happen but floods to children. Use the tips and e-mail can sometimes get tools provided in this book or talk to a through when calls don’t. Citizen Corps representative to learn more about making a family emergency B. Have two pre-identified plan. meeting places. Use the information that follows to • Choose a specific outside location create a family emergency plan. on or very near your property in case of a sudden emergency, like a house A. Create a communications plan. fire. • You should choose an out of town • Pick a place outside your emergency contact for your family. neighborhood in case you can’t This person should live in a place return home. Everyone should know that is unlikely to be directly affected the address and phone number and by the same event. Let this person how to get there. know that you have chosen them. • Having a set meeting place away • Make sure every household member from your home will save time and has all telephone numbers and minimize confusion should your e-mail addresses for that contact as home be affected or the area well as each other. evacuated. You may even want to • Leave these contact numbers at your make arrangements to stay with a children’s schools and at your family member or friend in case of an workplace. emergency. ready.wv.gov 3 ReadyWV! If there are people who assist you on a daily basis, list who they are and how you will contact them in an emergency. Make arrangements to check in immediately following a disaster. Create a personal network of neighbors and connect with them early. • Be sure to include pets in your Discuss how you can work together plans, since pets are not permitted in to handle natural disasters or terrorist shelters and some hotels will not problems. Talk about how you can accept them. See page 22 for share resources. Know your neighbors’ suggestions about pets. special skills (medical, technical and • Don’t be afraid to talk to your others). Consider how you can help children about preparing for different neighbors with special needs, such as types of disasters. Kids are better disabled and elderly persons. Develop able to handle the stress of a crisis a way to stay in touch with them as when they know what to expect. well. C. Inform yourself. Make plans for childcare, in case parents can’t get home, and exchange Find out about the emergency plans at contact information. your workplace, your church and other places where your family spends time, E. Emergency supplies such as sports facilities, scout troop Keep enough supplies in your home centers, etc. to meet your needs for 7 to 14 days Have plans in place to communicate or more if possible. Assemble a with and pick up family members in family emergency kit with items you case of an emergency. may need both for your home and D. Work with your neighbors. in an evacuation (see page 28 for a suggested list). Create a separate Neighbors helping neighbors can evacuation kit stored in sturdy easy-to- save lives and property. Talk to your carry containers like backpacks, duffel neighbors to plan how you can work bags or covered trash containers and together after a disaster until help keep it in an easily accessible location. arrives. If you’re a member of a Replace these supplies periodically. neighborhood organization, such as a home association or crime watch group, Keep important family documents in a introduce emergency preparedness as a waterproof and fireproof container or new activity. bank safety deposit box. You also can help your family and neighbors by participating in Citizen Corps programs such as Community Emergency Response Team, Volunteers in Police Service, Medical Reserve Corps or Neighborhood Watch. 4 Your Home Your home is your refuge. It is important to store the things you need in advance of any emergency or crisis situation. You may need to survive on your own during a winter storm, shelter in place during a chemical emergency, or provide your own care if first responders are needed elsewhere. Keeping enough water and food on hand for your family is part of the equation. Adding light, heat, and comfort items can reduce stress and anxiety during an incident. Review the guidelines that follow and adopt as many tactics as possible to get your home ready. A. Water bottles work well for water storage. You can also buy food-grade plastic buckets Having a supply of clean water is very or drums. Close water containers important. A normally active person tightly, date them and keep in a cool, needs to drink at least 8 glasses of dark place. Change this water with water each day. During hot weather, fresh water every six months. you will need to increase that amount. Children, nursing mothers and sick B. Food people will need more. You will also You don’t need to go out and buy need water to fix meals and to wash. special foods to prepare your Store at least one gallon of water per emergency food supply. You can use person/per day for each member of the canned foods and other staples on your family.