• In 95% of all emergencies, bystanders or victims themselves are the first to provide emergency assistance or to perform a rescue.
• It could be up to 72 hours after a disaster before professionals arrive to help.

How can I be prepared?
1. Make an Emergency Kit:

• Have enough supplies to be on your own for at least three days.
• Consider having two kits: one to put everything you will need to stay where you are and the other should be a lightweight, smaller version to take with you if you have to evacuate.

Recommended Supplies for a Basic Kit:

• Water (one gallon per person per day – for drinking and sanitation)
• Food (at least a three – day supply of non-perishable food, including canned food, protein bars, dried fruit/nuts)
• Battery – powered radio and extra batteries
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First Aid Kit
• Whistle (to signal for help)
• Filter mask or cotton t-shirt (for filtering contaminated air)
• Moist towelettes (for sanitation)
• Wrench or pliers (if turning off utilities is necessary)
• Manual can opener (if food supply includes canned food)
• Plastic sheeting and duct tape (for sealing off windows)
• Garbage bags and plastic ties
• Non-prescription medication (aspirin, antacids, etc.)
• Any unique family needs (daily prescription medications, infant formula, diapers, glasses)
• Personal Identification


• Also include important family documents and items (it is important to have copies of these documents in a safe place in case they cannot be retrieved from the home), including: Birth certificates, marriage certificate, driver’s license, social security cards, passport, wills, deeds, inventory of household goods, insurance papers, immunization records, bank and credit card account numbers, emergency contact list and phone numbers, map of the area and phone numbers of places to go, an extra set of car keys and house keys. (Be sure to store these items in a watertight container.)

• Store your kit in a convenient place that is known to all family members
• Keep items in air tight plastic bags
• Change your stored water every six months so it stays fresh
• Rotate your stored food every six months
• Re-think your kit and family needs at least once a year – check batteries, update clothes, etc.

2. Make a plan:
Plan in advance what you will do in an emergency and prepare yourself to assess any emergency situations in the event that they occur. Use common sense and what you have on hand to take care of yourself and your family.

• Develop a family communication plan: Your family may not be together at the time of a disaster, so plan how you will contact one another.

• Do your best to make contact to family members directly
• Also consider a plan in which all family members will contact one designated relative or contact person in the event of a disaster.
• It is often easier to make long-distance calls, so it may be best to establish an out of town contact (and ensure that all family members have the phone number)

• Create a plan to get away: Plan in advance how your family will evacuate and have several destinations in different directions to avoid closed roads and more devastated areas.
Remember your emergency supply kit if you leave.
• Know emergency plans at school and work: Find out how your child’s school will communicate with families in case of disaster, talk with your neighbors on how you can work together, know your work’s policies and procedures for disasters.

• Drop to the ground, cover your head and neck, and hold until the shaking stops. Move only as far as necessary to reach a safe place. Most persons injured during an earthquake move more than 5 feet during the shaking.
• If indoors, stay there. Many fatalities occur when people run outside, only to be killed by flying debris from collapsing walls. It is safer to stay inside until shaking stops.
• If outdoors, find a space away from buildings, trees, streetlights, power lines and overpasses. Drop to the ground and stay there until the shaking stops.
• If in a vehicle- stay in the vehicle with your seat belt on until the shaking stops.

• Look for and extinguish small fires
• Clean up spills
• Inspect your home for damage
• Help neighbors
• Tune into the Emergency Alert System
• Expect aftershocks

• Know your flood evacuation route. Be aware of which roads become flooded and which remain passable.
• Keep important documents in a waterproof box.
• Elevate the water heater, furnace, and electric panel.
• Install check valves in plumbing to prevent water from backing up into the drains of your home.
• Waterproof the basement floor and walls to prevent seepage through the cracks.

• Do not walk, swim, or drive through flood waters. Flood water can move swiftly and may carry debris that can cause injuries. As little as 24 inches of water can wash a car away and 6 inches of fast moving water can knock a person off their feet.
• Stay off bridges over fast moving water. Fast moving water can wash bridges away without warning, especially if it contains heavy debris.
• Avoid storm drains and irrigation ditches.
• Reserve the telephone for emergencies only - phone lines can be overloaded, a non-emergency call may prevent an emergency call from getting through.
• Avoid driving unless you have to evacuate.
• Stay away from flooded areas.

• Stay inside
• Keep away from windows and doors
• Stay away from water faucets, sinks, and tubs
• DO NOT use the phone unless there is an emergency (lightning can travel down phone lines).
• Do not use electric appliances
• Unplug electrical appliances other than those providing you information on the weather.

• Try to get into a house or large building
• Get inside a vehicle
• If you are in a field make yourself a small target. Do not lie flat on the ground.
• Get away from any water (lakes, pool, ocean)
• DO NOT go into a shed that stands alone

• Rip trees apart
• Destroy buildings
• Uproot structures and objects
• Send debris and glass flying
• Overturn cars and mobile homes

• Keep all windows and doors closed. Damage and injuries often occur when wind gets inside the house.
• Go to the “safe” room in your house. The safest place to be is in the basement, away from windows. If you do not have a basement the safest place is an interior hallway or room on the lowest floor. In high rise buildings the safest place is in a hallway or in the center of the building.
• Mobile homes are not safe during a tornado.
• Listen to the weather radio for current emergency information and instructions.
• If you are driving and see a tornado, go to a nearby sturdy building. If there are no buildings nearby get out and away from your vehicle and lie down in a low spot on the ground and protect your head and neck.

• Avoid fallen power lines or broken utility lines and immediately report those you see.
• Stay out of the damaged area until professionals tell you that it is safe to return.
• Document damage for your insurance company.
• Turn off utilities if necessary.

• Installing smoke alarms on every level of your home and near all sleeping areas.
• Installing fire extinguishers
• Having two escape routes from every room in your home. Escape ladders should be a consideration for sleeping on upper floors as well as quick release switches on bars that cover windows.
• Practicing your escape route at least twice a year. Practice getting out both day and night. Practice escapes should include low crawl escapes, insuring that all family members heads are one to two feet from the floor.
• As part of escape planning, select a safe area outside the home for family to gather after escaping the fire. Ensure that all know to meet at that place. So when firefighters arrive, they can be notified quickly of your family status.
• Practice alerting family by screaming “FIRE” several times. In a real fire this alert may help family members escape.
• Make sure the family members know to get out of the house a soon as possible and call the fire department.

• Stop up areas where it is possible for smoke to come in using wet towels, sheets, or clothes under the door and over vents.
• Call the fire department and tell them where you are – even if the fire department has already been called.
• Open windows slightly at the top and bottom to allow smoke to exit and fresh air to enter the room.
• Stay low and near the window to breathe fresh air.
• Wave a bright colored cloth at the window to signal the fire department.

• Call before you dig: call two working days before digging in your yard or on the job to make sure no gas lines or electrical cables are buried near by.
• Make sure that all cigarettes and cigars are completely extinguished in ashtrays.
• Keep portable space heaters at least three feet from anything that can burn. Never leave heaters on when you are not home or go to bed and keep children and pets away from them.