Emergency communication plan for your family

[Old Fart]

Saw this over on Gray Wolf survival site.

There are a lot of agencies out there that suggest that you make a sound Emergency Communication plan for your family in case disaster strikes but unbelievably, a lot of them don’t tell you how to actually do this, and the ones that do are woefully inadequate. Ready.gov at least gives some information by suggesting that you use the acronym COMMUNICATE:


Create a family communication plan so you can get in touch with family members. Give copies of contact information and meeting locations to everyone in your family
Options are available: telephones, cell phones and e-mail are all great ways to get in touch with family members.
Make sure you know the emergency plan at your child’s school.
Make a decision about where you will meet in case you can’t get home during an emergency.
Understand that it may take time to get through to everyone. Try to be patient.
Needs of your pets should be kept in mind. Keep a pet carrier for easy transport.
Inform yourself. Watch news broadcasts, read online news updates or listen to a battery-operated radio for official guidance during an emergency, but also prepare in advance.
Copies of your emergency plan should be in your emergency supply kit in case you need to leave in a hurry.
Ask kids to discuss their concerns and feelings. Do they understand the family plan?
Take the kids to visit the “meeting spots” so that they are familiar and feel comfortable finding them on their own if necessary.
Emergencies take many forms. Categorize different types of emergencies and discuss the level of concern related to each and how that is reflected in your family plan.

That’s better than most but it’s still pretty dumb. You can tell they tried to come up with tenuous connections to each letter to make the acronym fit. It’s better than nothing, but it still doesn’t tell you effective ways of how you can communicate with your family during and after an emergency; it just tells you a few things to consider. Let’s see if we can do better, my Lovelies.

 

[Repubiman]

A cell phone for communication??!!! Yes you can obviously see it was written by the govt. because we know
first hand that during any emergency cell phone service is the first to go. Idiots! The local disaster agencies
take over a lot of the cell band width and you know this if you tried to make a cell phone call during the bombing
or any of the major devastating tornados in Moore.

I will use our own plan as anything the govt. gets its hands and ideas on is FUBARed! I just thank God I don't
have children living at home any more to worry about. But I do have grandkids, so I still worry.

Over all though most of the advice is pretty sound. However anything that might disrupt electrical energy
could make a lot of those plans null and void so plan accordingly.

 

[Repubiman]

If I was a parent I would try to work on making sure we had a minimum of 3 different meet up places if the kids were still in school.
Make sure they understand the order 1, 2, 3 of met up places so you don't go first to meet up 1 and they forget and go
to met up 2 or 3 first. Pound it in their heads and quiz them. Not being able to find your loved ones would be horrific. Also tell
them no to let someone deter them from your met up even if they have to walk over being given a ride somewhere different.
Teach them which way is N, S, E and W. and how to determine direction. Teach them a safe place to shelter if God forbid
you don't meet up and they have to shelter over night. Teach them that remaining calm because you and they have a plan is one
of the most important things they need to be able to do. Maybe even preposition needed supplies like bottled water and snacks
along the safe routes. Brain storm. Maybe friends or relatives could be on one or two of the routes. Talk with other parents
about being a place of refuge if their kids need it in an emergency.

Go from there like maybe making certain they had a back pack with certain items like sturdy walking shoes that maybe resist
nails, screws, broken glass and splintered wood. A flashlight, gloves, bottle of water and some granola bars for quick food.