An emergency can occur at any time and place. When it does, you may not have much time to plan your response. That's why it's crucial to plan in advance. Following is the information you need to prepare yourself and your family for an emergency before it happens. 

1. Find out What Could Happen

• Contact your local Red Cross chapter or emergency management office before an emergency situation occurs. Be prepared to take notes.
• Ask what types of emergencies are most likely to happen in your area. Request information on how to prepare for each.
• Learn about your community's warning signals - what they sound like and what you should do if you hear them.
• Ask about animal care after an emergency. Animals are not allowed inside emergency shelters because of health regulations.
• Find out how to help elderly or disabled people, if needed.
• Find out about the emergency plans at your workplace, your children's school or day care center, your church, and other places where your family spends time.

2. Create an Emergency Plan

• Meet with your family and discuss why you need to prepare. Explain the dangers of fire, severe weather, earthquakes and explosions to children. Plan to share responsibilities and work together as a team.
• Discuss the types of emergencies that are most likely to happen. Explain what to do in each case.
• Pick two places to meet: 

• Right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency, such as a fire.
• Outside your neighborhood in case you can't return home. Everyone needs to know the address and telephone number.

• Ask an out-of-state friend to be your "family contact." After an emergency situation, it's often easier to call long distance. Other family members should call this person and tell them where they are. Everyone needs to know the contact's phone number.
• Discuss what to do in an evacuation. Plan how to take care of your pets.

3. Emergency Plan Checklist

• Post emergency telephone numbers by phones, as well as putting them on a card to keep in your wallet.
• Teach children how and when to call 911 or your local Emergency Medical Services number for emergency help.
• Show each family member how and when to turn off the utilities (water, gas and electricity) at the main switches.
• Check to see if you have adequate insurance coverage.
• Get training from the fire department for each family member on how to use the fire extinguisher, and show them where it's kept.
• Install smoke detectors on each level of your home, especially near bedrooms.
• Conduct a home hazard hunt. Ordinary items in the home can cause injury and damage. Anything that can fall, move, break or cause a fire is a potential hazard.

• Repair faulty electrical wiring and leaky gas collections.
• Fasten shelves securely.
• Place large, heavy objects on lower shelves.
• Hang pictures and mirrors away from beds.
• Brace overhead light fixtures.
• Secure water heater. Strap to wall studs.
• Repair cracks in ceilings or foundations.
• Store weed killers, pesticides and flammable products from heat sources.
• Place oily polishing rags or waste in covered metal cans.
• Clean and repair chimneys, flue pipes, vent connectors and gas vents.

• Stock emergency supplies and assemble an Emergency Supplies Kit.
• Take a Red Cross first aid and CPR class.
• Determine the best escape routes from your home. Find two ways out of each room.
• Find the safe places in your home for each type of emergency.

4. Practice and Maintain Your Plan

• Quiz your kids every six months or so on the plan for each type of emergency.
• Conduct fire and emergency evacuations.
• Replace stored water and stored food every six months.
• Test and recharge your fire extinguisher(s) according to manufacturer's instructions.
• Test your smoke detectors monthly and change the batteries at least once a year.

5. Create a Neighborhood Plan

• Meet with your neighbors to plan how the neighborhood could work together after an emergency until help arrives. 
• If you're a member of a neighborhood organization, such as a home association or crime watch group, introduce emergency preparedness as a new activity. 
• Know your neighbors' special skills and consider how you could help neighbors who have special needs, such as disabled and elderly people.
• Make plans for childcare in case parents can't get home.