Over the past two weeks, there has been more devastation in our area than I would care to think about. The tornadoes have literally ripped people’s lives apart single handedly.
My brother, who is in the military, mom and grandmother, recently went to the areas devastated by the tornadoes to help with cleanup and came back very humbled. It is easy to realize how blessed you are when you are looking around at people who have lost their homes, belongings and worst of all, the people they love dearly.
It is very easy for us to go to bed at night automatically assuming we will all wake up with each other the next morning and unfortunately this proves to be wrong more times than I would like to know about.
With all of the storms recently and in the past years it had me thinking about an emergency plan for my family.
As far as emergency plans go, any family knows that if there is a tornado, then we all know which spot to go to, and my husband and I make sure we have gathered the pets.
Unfortunately, I am very far off from where I need to be when it comes to a plan. We might know where to go for a tornado but none of my family would have any clue what to do if a natural disaster occurred.
Where do we go to try to find each other? Do we need to have somewhere we can meet? Do we know phone numbers, the address, and everyone’s full names? I am quite certain my daughter could not walk up and say our names are mommy and daddy and be much help. Do you know your next of kin address, full names and phone numbers?
What if there was a fire in the house? My kids would have no clue of what to do in this situation. We would be running around trying to gather everyone and my children would be wigging out.
My oldest daughter has the worst anxiety when it comes to stressful situations. Have I prepared enough for her to calm down and manage to think straight?
All of these things are something I need to be thinking about right now. So my question is, does your family have plans for emergencies? I am obviously a major slacker in this area so I started to research more about it and came up with some ideas.
Emergency planning starts with figuring which types of disasters are most likely to affect your area. Learn about emergency plans for your city, schools and workplace. Once you have all of that together, it is time to start mapping out a plan for your family.
First, it is always best to designate an evacuation route for your home. This can be completed by simply drawing a floor plan of your home, determining the best route, and mapping it on the floor plan. It is always a good idea to have this emergency route in a location that is easy for the children and any guests in your home to see.
After you have the escape route figured out, come up with ideas for having an alternate meeting spot outside of your home or even somewhere else in your neighborhood if needed. This will especially cut down on some anxiety for a child if they know where to go to meet back up if you have been separated in the wake of a disaster.
Have a bag always prepared with important documents; cash or traveler’s checks, disaster supplies, and clothing ready to go.
Make sure you have a family card with all important phone numbers on this so if you do not have a cellphone you still have all of your contacts with you.
Familiarize yourself with the Red Cross website where you can register yourself as safe as well as look for other family members.
Finally, have an emergency kit always available if possible. Good things to include in this emergency kit are: emergency contacts including police department, fire department, physicians and emergency personnel, flashlights, radio, batteries, first aid kit, pet food, pet medications, medications for the family and food.
The best way to protect your family is to have the most well-established plan possible. This can drastically cut down on the anxiety families face when everything is taken from you. Making sure the whole family is completely involved and informed is detrimental. I can see after my research that I am nowhere near having a plan in place and knowing why having one helps so much.
My heart bleeds for the families that are currently trying to figure out how to rebuild life right now and I pray for them constantly. I can only hope if my family ever endures something this painful we will have a plan.