A family emergency plan

A household emergency plan starts with five questions: how you'll get alerts, where you'll shelter, how you'll evacuate, how you'll reach each other, and whether your kit needs updating. Talk them through with everyone in the house, then write the plan down and practice it. This template is the written part, in a form you can print or keep on a phone.

What's in it

• Household members, with each person's phone, email and any medical or other needs.
• Schools, childcare, caregivers and workplaces, with each one's emergency number and pick-up plan.
• Emergency contacts, including one out of the area.
• Meeting places, near home, outside the neighborhood and out of town.
• Alerts, shelter and evacuation, the first three of the five questions.
• Medical information, from Poison Control and the doctors to allergies, insurance, assistive devices and the vet.
• Pets, and where they go if you leave.
• A Before you send box with four checks for when the plan is done.

How to fill it in

Sit down with everyone in the household and fill it in together. Think about each person's needs as you go: ages, diet, medical needs, prescriptions and equipment, disabilities, languages spoken, and pets or service animals.

Write each member's details in the household table, with any medical or other needs beside each name. For schools, childcare and workplaces, ask each one for its emergency plan and write the pick-up arrangement in.

Pick one emergency contact who lives out of the area, and tell them they're on the plan. Choose meeting places that are familiar and easy to find.

For alerts, shelter and evacuation, write how each warning reaches you, the room you'd shelter in, and two ways out of the neighborhood. Decide who in your network can help with communication, childcare, pets and other needs, and put their names in the emergency contacts.

Fill in the medical section from your prescriptions, insurance cards and the doctors' numbers. For any assistive device, write down its make, model, supplier and serial number.

Practice the plan with your household, and write the date at the bottom. Give everyone a copy, on paper and on a phone.

Keeping it current

Review the plan whenever you check the emergency kit. A new phone number, a new school or a new prescription goes in when it changes, and the next review date goes at the bottom. Build an emergency kit covers the supplies that go with it.