Simply Prepared ecourse. Module 11, Chapter 2: Ready to Evacuate

Transcription

1 Simply Prepared ecourse Module 11, Chapter 2: Ready to Evacuate 1

2 Welcome Welcome to the written lesson from module eleven, chapter one! In the last chapter, I walked you through creating a grab and go binder for your family. And while that binder is an important thing to grab if you were ever asked to evacuate, it is not the only thing you should grab. In this lesson, I will walk you through creating a customized evacuation plan for your family that ensures you grab what is most important first. Why Plan for Evacuation I ve left evacuation for the very end of this ecourse as I feel that in most (not all) situations, staying put in (or near) your home will likely be your best option. But sometimes, evacuation is absolutely necessary. If you live in wild fire, flood, hurricane, volcano, tsunami or tornado areas, you may experience a recommended or even mandatory evacuation at some point. So, if a possible evacuation is one of the top 3-5 items on your list, then you need to create a plan for that evacuation. You do not want to leave this to the last minute. If you are prepared, you will be able to stay calm and collected and be more productive. These means you will be able to take more things with you especially those that truly are important. Even if evacuation is not on your preparedness plan, it likely should be for one simple reason: house fires! House fires are more common than you might think and you should be prepared to evacuate quickly in case of one... It s Tricky! 2

3 The thing about evacuation is that the amount of time you have to prepare to leave will depend on the hazard. That makes it tricky to prepare for. With a hurricane, you may have a day or two. But with a house fire, you may only have seconds. Or you may have somewhere between those two extremes. Think about it: Would your family be ready to evacuate if necessary? What would you grab if you had a full day s warning? What would you grab if you had 30 minutes warning? What if you had 10 minutes warning? What if you only had moments? Where will you go if only your home is affected? Where will you go if only your immediate area is affected? Where will you go if your area and hundreds of miles around is affected? How will you gather all your family members? Where will you gather all your family members? How will you communicate with local and long distance family members? There are three main things you need to think about when it comes to creating an evacuation plan for your family. The three parts of an evacuation plan are: 1. Knowing what to grab 2. Knowing where to go 3. Knowing how to communicate What to Grab 3

4 If you don t know what you want to grab before being forced to evacuate, you will be panicked, overwhelmed and likely forget important things. Take the time now to prepare, so that you can face that situation with confidence and calm. First, sit down with all the adults and teenage children in your home. Create a list of everything you d want to take with you if you had a full days warning to evacuate and could do so in your car. Make another list of things you may need to DO. Think about what you are preparing to evacuate FOR in these situations. Will you need a tent, or will you be going to your brother s house in the next town over? Think about items that will help you take care of your family as well as sentimental items you would not want to lose if your home were destroyed. Now, prioritize both lists according to what is most important to you. Those things that are absolutely essential to grab or do should be at the top of your list. Print this list and post it near your doors. Put one in your grab and go binder. Next, move any items that you can (pictures, hard drives, extra keys, grab and go / important documents binder, water, books, tents, 72 hour kits, etc) near an exit to make them easier to grab quickly. If you can t move them near an exit, make a note on your prioritized list as to exactly where they are. For example: Tent top shelf against far wall in basement storage The less you have to think about when packing to evacuate, the better! Last, practice at least once to make sure you can get through everything on your list as quickly as possible and so you know how to fit everything in your 4

5 car. Make needed adjustments. Then practice yearly (add reminders to the system you chose in module two). What we have done We created an evacuation plan using this method years ago and it has brought such peace of mind! We actually split our list into two: Moments and Minutes or More because we found our priorities were different depending on the time we had. In addition our prioritized list is split it between my husband and I. We each just start working down our list until we have to leave. If one of us isn t home, the person who is would work down both lists. We ve also assumed that if we had 10 minutes notice or more we would be able to leave in our van and would likely be able to get to a friend or family members home within a day or two. But, if we only had moments, we ve assumed we would be on foot. You can see our lists below. Please remember that my lists will not be the same as yours. You have different priorities and needs. But I ve provided my list as an example so you have somewhere to start! Moments Only: MOM: Get girl s shoes on Get my shoes on Grab purse and cell Get grab and go binder Get to garage with girls DAD: Get boy s shoes on Get own shoes on Grab wallet and cell Grab external hard drive and camera Get to garage with boys 5

6 Get 72 hour kit on Get outside with girls Get 72 hr kit on him and boys Get outside with boys Minutes or More: MOM: My shoes on Kid s shoes on Turn on movie for kids IN VAN (on ipad) Jackets and winter gear in van (if winter time) Grab and go binder, my purse, husband s wallet, keys, cell phones and chargers in van External hard drive and camera in van. Extra flashlights, solar generators and other power out supplies in van. Quick Meals and extra snack food in van Cooler filled with milk, cheese, fresh fruit and frozen water in van Kid s pillows, blankies and stuffed animals in van. DAD: Shoes on Shut off gas and water to house Put 72 hour kits in the van 24 pack water bottles in van Family pictures / journal tub in van Kids keepsake boxes in van Family tent in van Butane Stove and cube stove in van with butane and fuel disks. Firewood in van Fishing gear in van Additional extra blankets in van Guitar in van Favorite books in van Extra clothes, diapers, and medicine in van Toys, coloring books, games and crayons in van 6

7 After reading over our lists, you may have a few questions. Here are a few important thoughts and notes that may help explain things: If the house is in full flames, we wouldn t worry about ANYTHING on the list except ourselves and our children. Neither of these lists apply in that situation. We keep our grab and go binder, camera and our (1 TB, but very small) external hard drive RIGHT by our garage door. We would walk right by them on our way out making it simple to grab them as we go. We keep our 72 hour kits in our garage We keep one cooler, a 24 pack water bottles, firewood, our family tent, fishing gear, and our butane stove, and cube stove in the garage. We keep (all day everyday) an emergency crank powered radio, a first aid kit, mini 72 hour kit, extra blankets, an emergency road kit, snacks, a current and 3-4 year old family photo (for ID purposes) and small bills (money) in our van. This is why these things are not on our list. The reason for turning on a movie for the kids is to keep them out of the way / distracted while my husband and I run around like crazy people. We keep a pair of shoes near the garage door for all family members. All our power out supplies are in one upstairs hall closet making it easy to find and grab things All of our family pictures are on our external hard drive, but we have some pictures from mine and my husband s childhood that aren t (remember the days of film??). These, along with older written journals are all in a tub in our basement. We also have a tub and file folder for each of our kids where we keep sentimental things for them when they get older. These are also in our basement. We did not list out scriptures separately as we have a copy of them on our ipads / phones. How to Communicate 7

8 We covered emergency communication in detail in module three. Feel free to go back and review that information as necessary, but here is a quick review: Emergency communication is difficult at best. But there are a few different options you can try: 1. Texting, , social media and long distance phone calls using cell phones 2. Phone booths 3. The American Red Cross Safe and Well Program 4. Hand Radios 5. CERT volunteers 6. Satellite phones 7. CB and Ham Radios In addition, plan now how you will follow official emergency information and how you will communicate with organizations and businesses important to your family s need (such as schools and insurance companies etc). Remember, module three covered all this in detail and you can always go back and review! Where to go As discussed in module three, you should have multiple meeting places planned in advance: Right outside your home Outside your neighborhood Outside your town Your meeting places should be specific, safe and familiar to everyone. But once you ve gathered your family at your meeting places, you will then need to proceed to a pre-determined evacuation location. These locations 8

9 are not just somewhere you will meet, but somewhere you can stay for a period of time. Ideally, your evacuation locations should be a friend or family member s home (or your own 2 nd home), but they could also be shelter locations. Just like with your meeting locations, you should have multiple options and plans in place. Pick both a local and a long distance location. In addition, whenever possible, you should have 2-3 different routes for getting to your location. Taking the time now to find alternate routes will save you time, effort (at gasoline) if you run into road blocks or heavy traffic when evacuating. Evacuating on Foot In most situations, it is likely that you will be able to evacuate in your vehicle. But there are reasons or situations when you might not be able to do so. There may be standstill traffic. You may run out of gas and not yet be to your destination. Or maybe you only have moments and running on foot is faster than climbing in the car. Whatever the reason, it is wise to have supplies in a 72 hour kit go-bag. You might also hear this called a bug out bag or BOB. It has many names! Such kits can also be useful if you are away from home when disaster hits and have to walk back to meet your family. Years ago, I wrote a detailed ebook on creating such a kit. As a member of this ecourse, you have access to this ebook. It will walk you through building a customized 72 hour kit for your family one step at a time. It was designed to be worked on one week at a time over 26 weeks, but you can take it faster or slower as needed. 9

10 Review An evacuation plan includes three things: 1. Knowing what to grab 2. Knowing where to go 3. Knowing how to communicate Disusing these things now and determining what your family will do will allow you to stay calm, collected and productive when faced with the need to evacuate. Take Action! Print the evacuation worksheet and create your family s evacuation plan 10

11 I ve provided an evacuation worksheet for you as part of this chapter. Print it. Then sit down with your family and create your evacuation plan. Once you ve finished it, post it near your exits and put one in your grab and go binder. What s Next: Congratulations! You have completed the Simply Prepared ecourse! That is an incredible accomplishment. Sit back for a minute and be proud! Then, go back and review as necessary to continue moving forward, updating and improving your family s preparedness level. 11