General tips

• 1). Program clearly marked emergency numbers into your phone's speed dial.
  
  
• 2). Set up two meeting places: one near your house in case of a sudden emergency such as fire or home invasion, and another outside the neighborhood, such as a school or friend's house, in case you can't get home. Also designate one family member to make decisions for the whole group during a crisis, including where to meet and what to do in case plans must change.
  
  
• 3). Designate an out-of-town relative or friend as your contact in the event that local phone service is interrupted. Family members should phone in as soon as possible if separated.
  
  
• 4). Create an emergency plan for children that details who will pick them up from school or daycare should parents be unable to, where that person will take them and what the plan is to meet up again. Be sure everyone involved has all the phone numbers.
  
  
• 5). Discuss, locate and prepare priority items such as photos and documents to save. Have your will, insurance paperwork and all legal documents in good order (see 232 Organize Important Documents and 244 Make a Will).
  
  
• 6). Prepare a backpack for each family member with extra clothing, shoes, jackets, medications, diapers and wipes for babies, insurance and medical information. Include a laminated picture of the entire family with names and numbers. Keep them in a chest by the front door, in a hall closet or in the trunk of your car.
  
  
• 7). Keep an emergency kit, including first aid supplies, in each car. See 466 Assemble Emergency Kits.