Preparing for disaster can save you and your family
Disaster can strike quickly-without giving you a heads-up.
You might have to leave your home, office, or school,
or you might be confined to any one of those places.
What would you do if basic services like water, gas,
electricity and telephones went out? Local officials and
relief workers would be on the scene after a disaster,
but obviously they couldn’t reach everyone right
away.
The best way to help yourself and your family is to be
prepared before an emergency happens.
Follow the Red Cross’s three
steps to preparedness:
- Become informed.
- Make a plan.
- Assemble a disaster supplies kit.
This doesn’t have to be done all at once. You can
break the preparation into small tasks so you don’t
feel overwhelmed. For instance, the family can read this
section today to become informed and use the section as
a disaster protection handbook.
Over the next week, you might put together a communication
plan. Then, you could assemble your supplies kit. Figure
out who’s going to take care of finding flashlights,
for instance. Give everyone a responsibility, and make
it a family project.
Talk about how you would feed your family for a week
if you couldn’t leave home because of an ice storm.
Then act like a squirrel and put away enough food-and
water-to tide you over.
Remember to plan for emergencies at work, too. The primary
objective is your safety. Know your emergency floor coordinator,
and follow his or her directions. Become familiar with
an evacuation floor plan, which should be posted nearby.
The American Red Cross’s Emergency/Disaster Plan
for Business and Industry offers suggestions for medical
and first aid procedures and what to do in case of a fire,
explosion, tornado, earthquake, hazardous materials contamination,
or civil disorder. The booklet also gives guidelines for
establishing an industrial emergency shelter.
For more information, call the Knoxville Area Chapter
of the American Red Cross, 865-584-2999.
