4 Tips For Prepping Your Family For An Emergency

It’s rare to find some region of the country where there hasn’t been some sort of disaster or emergency. People all long the East Coast and generally everywhere in the United States have been dealing with unprecedented amounts of flooding this summer, and tornados have been popping up in regions where they used to be uncommon. People in the western region of the country have been battling strong wildfires on and off all summer.

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Extreme weather events have become the norm for most people in the country, and every family and individual should be prepared for an emergency situation. You never know when you may need to evacuate your home for your own safety, and it’s always better to prepare for these events before hand instead of waiting to get things together after an emergency situation is declared. If you want to make sure you and your loved ones are safe in an emergency situation, make sure to follow these tips.

Get a friend or loved one involved

If there is an emergency in your area, friends and loved ones who live fair away will want to make sure that you’re safe. Take a minute to think about someone you trust who lives outside of your local region, and ask them if they’re okay with being the emergency contact person for your family. In the event of an emergency, you can call them to let them know that you’re safe and others can contact them in case they can’t get in touch with you. Be sure to share their contact information with others so that they’ll know how to contact someone to see if you’re safe.

Remember pets

If you have to evacuate, you need to make sure that your pet is well taken care of. Pets should never be left behind in an emergency situation, but if you’re evacuating to a shelter that houses a lot of people they may not be able to accommodate your pet. Make sure you have a safe location for your pet in case of an emergency, like the home of a family member or an animal shelter in case of an emergency. If you’re planning on being somewhere that allows pets, make sure that you bring enough food and water for your pets. Some places may not have enough spare pet food and water to go around, so you should make sure that you bring something for your pets.

Have contact information

Your children could get separated from you in an emergency situation, and you need to make sure that they’ll be able to find help and get back to you safely. Write out cards that have your child’s name, your name, address, telephone number, and back up telephone number in case they can’t reach you through your main one. Make sure they have these cards somewhere safe before you evacuate and that they understand that they should find a trusted adult (preferably someone in uniform) if they need help contacting you.

Pick appropriate food

When you’re packing food boxes for your family to use in an emergency situation, make sure you pick appropriate foods. Make sure that you pick foods that have a long shelf life and won’t require cooking (think of instant foods). Also try to avoid packing items that have a high sodium content, the salt will make you feel thirsty.

Ashely is a recent college graduate that likes to share emergency tips and ideas. To see more, check out her Twitter @ashelymarie1985.

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