What if a natural or man-made disaster happens and you are not with family? Will you be able to reach them? Where will they be and how will you be able to find them? How will you know if they are safe? How can you be able to let them know that you are safe?
During a disaster, you will need to send and receive information from your family but more than likely the traditional means of communication such as mobile phones and computers could be unreliable and out of service.
Electricity could be disrupted, and without a plan you and your family are left guessing and spending valuable time trying to locate each other instead of seeking safety and shelter.
As safety and risk management professional I am constantly questioning and addressing business owners’ disaster recovery plans, because statiscally it’s been proven that if they don’t have a formal plan in place, then the odds are that they will never recover. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), more than 40% of businesses never reopen after a disaster, and for those that do, only 29% were still operating after two years.
That same concern should be filtered down to your family.
Over the years, my now adult kids have made fun of me on many occasions, where my prepper personality and safety/risk management training have come out.
For instance once while planning a middle school trip to NYC for my oldest daughter a few years after the 9/11 attack, I felt compelled to include a list of detailed instructions for her to follow in the event she was to get separated from her party after a terrorist attack.
I even included an emergency credit card, extra cash and a list of potential rendezvous points and contact numbers. I even went as far as to direct her escape path towards the southeast into the likely prevailing winds in the event of a chemical attack.
Yes it’s overkill, but in my defense this was post 9/11 era and she was heading to ground zero.
What’s funny is that I am pretty sure that there are still a couple of middle school teachers who still talk about me, after one of them stumbled upon my mini-disaster plan labeled “open upon emergency.”
The fact is most of the millennial and generation Z populations don’t even know how to use a dictionary or read a map without the use of their GPS or smartphones. According to a British study seven in ten people today cannot recall their best friend’s telephone number and 51 percent do not know their parents’ numbers. This new digital amnesia world would be totally lost in an event of a natural disaster of huge proportions.
Back when I was growing up most of us in my generation could recite 50 plus phone numbers and all the important addresses of every family member. But today with this information easily accessible by the swipe of a finger, the reliance on digital devices becomes too convenient and even I have a hard time remembering important phone numbers and addresses.
In our increasingly hyper-connected world people simply have too many phone numbers, addresses, tasks and events in their calendar, account names, passwords, PIN numbers, …etc. Most of us today couldn’t remember everything even if we wanted to, but can access the information on demand when we need it via a connected device.
The trouble with that is during a disaster access to this information will be limited and more than likely unavailable for several days if not weeks. The question is how will you find your family?
Planning in advance will help ensure that all the members of your household — including children and people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs, as well as outside caregivers — know how to reach each other and where to meet up after a disaster.
To address this concern with my family I just recently handed out laminated wallet cards with all the necessary information. It made for a comical conversation after church on Sunday afternoon while we all waited for a table for lunch, and of course I can only imagine what my son’s new girlfriend thought of me after that.
In this mini-homemade laminated disaster plan with very small fonts I included phone numbers, email addresses and addresses of family members for key rallying points in the event of a disaster. I included different rallying points in our home town, in state and out of state locations. I was certain to include different locations of travel in the event we couldn’t travel in one direction or another.
FEMA suggests that all families start planning with three easy steps: Collect, Share and Practice.
You should create a paper copy of the contact information for your family and other important people/offices, such as medical facilities, doctors, schools, or service providers. You should then share this information with your family. Make sure everyone carries a copy in his or her backpack, purse, or wallet.
If you complete your Family Emergency Communication Plan online at ready.gov/make-a-plan, you can print it onto a wallet-sized card. You should also post a copy in a central location in your home, such as your refrigerator or family bulletin board and you should have regular household meetings to review and practice your plan.
If you have family members who still utilize landline phones they should be included first in the information that you provide your family. You should inform your family how to connect through landline phone, mobile device, or computer.
Because a disaster can strike during school or work hours, you need to know their emergency response plans and how to stay informed. Discuss these plans with children, and let them know who could pick them up in an emergency. Make sure your household members with phones are signed up for alerts and warnings from their school, workplace, and/or local government. For children without mobile phones, make sure they know to follow instructions from a responsible adult, such as a teacher or principal.
It is also important to identify someone outside of your community or State who can act as a central point of contact to help your household reconnect. In a disaster, it may be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town because local phone lines can be jammed.
Decide on safe, familiar places where your family can go for protection or to reunite. Make sure these locations are accessible for household members with disabilities or access and functional needs. If you have pets or service animals, you should also think about animal-friendly locations.
If you are unable to return home be sure to select a location outside of your neighborhood, which could be a library, community center, house of worship, or possibly a friend’s home. You should also select a place outside of your town or city in the event you are ordered to evacuate your home town. Make sure everyone knows the address of the meeting place and discuss ways you would get there.
If your phones are working, you should instruct each family member to conserve their phone’s batteries by reducing the brightness of their screen, closing all apps, turn on your airport mode and even turning your phone off and turning the phone back on at the top of each hour so that you have specific time to send or receive calls every hour.
Text is best when using a mobile phone, but if you make a phone call, keep it brief and convey only vital information to emergency personnel and/or family or household members. This will minimize network congestion, free up space on the network for emergency communications, and conserve battery power.
You can also use the internet to communicate by email, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media networks. These communication channels allow you to share information quickly with a widespread audience or to find out if loved ones are OK. The Internet can also be used for telephone calls through Voice over Internet Protocol.
The time to plan is now! You have to remember that a failure to plan does not and will not constitute an emergency for everybody else, especially when everybody else is dealing with their very own emergency. Trust me you will not find comfort amongst the chaos and it’s important to note that all great changes are preceded by chaos, but by then it will be too late to matter if you haven’t planned.
Be Safe My Friends
Keven Moore works in risk management services and is an expert witness. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.
