Greetings,

This is my first official post on The Way of Prudence. It will be a bare bones attempt to get the Preparedness Lists up for those who have listened to World for Jesus live stream November 2 from Seattle Washington.

The first step of the preparedness journey is to start working on your Family Disaster Plan.

Every family should have a Disaster Plan

1.      Register with your Emergency Management Agency to receive weather and emergency alerts on your various phones. Know your community’s warning signals: what they sound like and what they mean. Some communities have a registry for people with illnesses, disabilities or who have equipment for life support. Make sure every family member knows how to contact emergency services. Keep a list of numbers by the phone or on the refrigerator door. Post a list of family member’s phone numbers.

2.      Make sure you have a battery-operated radio so you can receive official information and instruction.

3.      Home Safety: Your EMA should have a brochure that will provide a checklist of activities. You want to clear your home of known hazards. Learn how and where to shut off water, gas, electricity, and sewage - (keep needed tools attached to the valves.)

4.      Fire Safety: Diagram your house and mark escape routes. Determine two avenues of escape on every floor. Have smoke alarms and fire extinguishers on each floor and in garage and shop areas. Have a rope ladder installed or available for upper floors. Practice evacuations.

5.      Establish out-of-state and local contacts to call in a disaster. List all contact information for each family member: daytime location (work, school, gym, most frequented businesses) include friends or classmates and all phone numbers and addresses. List health issues and medicines currently taking. Include the pertinent information of at least two of your neighbors and the local and out-of-state contacts.

Print and distribute to everyone. Be sure a copy is in the children’s book bag. 

6.      Put together a 72-hour Emergency Go-Bag. Make sure every vehicle has a Car Kit.

7.      Discuss what to do in an emergency situation. Perform drills so everyone knows what to do, what their responsibilities are, and how to adapt if things suddenly change.

8.      Designate meet-up places outside your house and another away from your neighborhood. Talk about what to do if everyone isn’t at home at the time of the emergency. Develop at least two possible responses.

9.      Make provision for your pets.

10.  Create a Disaster Preparedness Notebook and update every 6 months