Safety at home
Prepare for home emergencies
- Post important phone numbers (adults' and teens' work numbers, those of doctors, the poison-control center, and emergency
contacts) by all phones.
- Teach children how and when to call 911; practice with them what to say.
- Make sure every level of your home has working smoke alarms and carbon-monoxide detectors.
- Teach each family member how and when to turn off the water, gas, and electricity at the main switches.
- Take a course in first-aid and CPR.
- Create an evacuation plan for your home, with two escape routes from each room. Practice the plan at least twice a year with
all household members. Pick a specific place to meet right outside your home, in case family members become separated while
escaping. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides details at www.usfa.fema.gov/safety/escape/.
- Determine a place outside your neighborhood where your family will meet in a flood or other disaster, when you can't go home.
Ask an out-of-state friend to be your "family contact." In a disaster, it's often easier to call long distance than to call
inside the disaster area.
- Assemble these basics of a disaster supply kit: first-aid supplies including your family's prescriptions; a flashlight, a
battery-operated radio, and fresh batteries; sanitary supplies; special items for infants and elderly or disabled family members;
important family documents stored in a portable, waterproof container. A more detailed list is available at http://www.fema.gov/pdf/fima/fema320_erkit.pdf .
- Learn which of your neighbors has helpful skills such as medical training.
- Consider how you could help neighbors, such as elderly or disabled people, who may have special needs.
- When you will be away from home, inform a trusted neighbor or friend in the area and leave a number where you can be reached.
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