One of the thing we often fail to do is practice our emergency plans.  So by practicing, you can figure out what works and what doesn’t before a real emergency arises.  Gather your family together and recruit a neighbor to help.  The neighbor will knock on the door and say that you must evacuate the area in 5 minutes.  A railroad car has overturned, leaking toxic gas in the area.  Set a timer and tell everyone that they must be in the car in five minutes.

What did everyone bring?  Did you remember the 72-hour kits but forget your daughter’s allergy medicine?  Did everyone head for the kits and no one remembered to grab Fido and his pet carrier?  Did you think to call your elderly widowed neighbor and see if she needed a ride?

And what if you had to walk out?  How far can you carry your 72-hour kits?  Do a practice session and try seeing how far you can walk before they become heavy.  Can you load up a wagon or stroller and pull your drinking water?  Practice makes perfect.  By practicing your emergency plans, you will be more likely to remember them and your children will be better able to handle their stress and fear since it is a task they have preformed before.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 9:13 am and is filed under Evacuations, disaster preparedness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.