Winter Weather Awareness Week
December 7-11, 2009
“Make a Plan, Assemble a Kit, Stay Informed”
Make a Plan
Emergencies can occur at any time. Most emergencies don’t give you a lot of time to react. What if something happens in the middle of the night and you need to get out of the house quickly? Do you know how you will get out? Do you have a place to meet the other members of your family once you are out of the house? Planning ahead will help you to respond quickly to an emergency.
When making a plan, it’s important to sit down with everyone in the household and discuss the best approach. Here are some tips from the Washoe County Emergency Management’s website at www.readywashoe.com.
Emergency Plan
- Meet with household members. Discuss with children the dangers of fire, severe weather, earthquakes, and other emergencies.
- Discuss how to respond to each disaster.
- Discuss what to do about power outages and personal injuries.
- Draw a floor plan of your home. Mark two escape routes from each room.
- Learn how to turn off the water, gas, and electricity at main switches.
- Post emergency telephone numbers near telephones.
- Teach children how and when to call 911, police, and fire.
- Instruct household members to turn on the radio for emergency information.
- Pick one out-of-state and one local friend or relative for family members to call if separated by disaster (it is often easier to call out-of-state than within the affected area).
- Teach children how to make long distance telephone calls.
- Pick two meeting places.
- A place near your home in case of a fire.
- A place outside your neighborhood in case you cannot return home after a disaster.
Here is FEMA’s Family Emergency Plan brochure: http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/EmergencyPlan_REV6.pdf
Assemble a Kit
In the event of an emergency, you’ll want to have the basics of survival to get by. The general recommendation is 3 days of basic supplies. This is your Emergency Kit. When preparing a kit, you should start with food and water and build from there based on your needs. Here is a general list of items you should consider and store them in an easy to carry container like a backpack or a duffle bag:
- A supply of water (one gallon per person per day). Store water in sealed, unbreakable containers. Identify the storage date and replace every six months.
- A supply of non-perishable packaged or canned food and a non-electric can opener.
- A change of clothing, rain gear, and sturdy shoes.
- Blankets or sleeping bags.
- A first aid kit and prescription medications.
- An extra pair of glasses.
- A battery-powered radio, flashlight, and plenty of extra batteries.
- Credit cards and cash.
- An extra set of car keys.
- A list of family physicians.
- A list of important family information; the style and serial number of medical devices, such as pacemakers.
- Special items for infants, elderly, or disabled family members.
In addition to your Emergency Kit, you might want to consider a Car Kit. A Car Kit is a 3 day emergency kit that you keep in your car. Check out www.readywashoe.com for more information. FEMA has an excellent checklist available in PDF form: http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/checklist2.pdf
Don’t know where to start? The Red Cross offers some great suggestions and even has ready-made kits available for purchase. https://www.redcrossstore.org/shopper/ProdList.aspx?LocationId=1
Keep in mind that ready-made kits will have generic food in them and should only be considered a starting place for your kit. You’ll want to customize your kit so you’ll be more comfortable when an emergency occurs.
Here are some more helpful links to help you with preparing your kits:
Personal documents “Grab and Go” checklist found on the Washoe County Clerk’s website: http://www.washoecounty.us/clerks/grab_n_go.php
www.redcross.org
www.readywashoe.com
Pets: http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/pets_tagged.pdf
“Older Americans”: http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/older_americans.pdf
“Disabilities and Special Needs”: http://www.ready.gov/america/_downloads/disabilities.pdf
Washoe County health department: http://www.co.washoe.nv.us/health/php/index.php?PHPSESSID=173cc54d6465528b3eb86b5548d7edca
Stay Informed
Often times, when people think of disasters or emergencies, they think of such events as hurricanes and tornados or even earthquakes. Every area is prone to different kinds of disasters such as wildfires, flood even severe weather like thunderstorms and windstorms.
Learn what disasters can affect you. This will help you to better prepare to respond in the event an emergency does occur. In Washoe County, Public Safety Officials have identified 13 primary hazards in our area:
- Wildland Fire
- Flooding
- Earthquake
- Severe Storms
- Hazardous Materials
- Avalanche
- Bio-agriculture and Human Infection
- Terrorism
- Nuclear Waste
- Volcanic
- Civil Disorder
- Drought
- Energy Emergency
If you are outside of the Washoe County, NV area, talk to your local emergency management office and ask them what the hazards in your area are.
Once you have identified the hazards, you should learn what to do to prepare for these emergencies. Take the necessary steps to protect you and your family. The local chapter of the Red Cross (http://nevada.redcross.org) offers first aid and CPR courses in addition to a variety of other trainings and volunteer opportunities. Other programs such as CERT (Community Emergency Response Team http://www.washoesheriff.com/cert.htm) provide opportunities to volunteer and learn about response efforts in your community and neighborhood.
Here are some other useful links:
www.floodawareness.com
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/
http://www.seismo.unr.edu/
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