How to Make a Family Emergency Communication Plan

Why you need a written plan

Disasters often strike when families are apart, at work, school or out running errands. Ready.gov recommends a written plan because cell networks can be overloaded and phone batteries die, and most people no longer memorize phone numbers.

What to include

• Contact list: phone numbers, email addresses and workplaces for everyone in the household.
• Out-of-town contact: someone in another area that everyone checks in with. Long-distance calls and texts may get through when local ones don't.
• Meeting places: one right outside your home for sudden emergencies like fire, and one outside your neighborhood if you can't return home.
• School and work plans: how your children's schools and your workplaces will communicate and where they'll take people.
• Medical information: conditions, medications, doctors and insurance details.

Make it easy to use

• Give everyone a printed wallet card, and put a copy in each go-bag.
• Save an "ICE" (In Case of Emergency) contact in each phone.
• Teach children how to text and how to reach your out-of-town contact.
• Practice your plan twice a year, for example when you change your smoke alarm batteries.

Communication tips during a disaster

• Text rather than call. Texts use less network capacity.
• Keep calls short and save battery by dimming your screen and closing apps.
• Use social media "I'm safe" check-in features if they're available.
• Keep a battery or hand-crank radio for official information.

When there's no signal

Two-way radios can keep family members in touch over short distances, and satellite messengers can send texts and SOS messages from anywhere with a view of the sky.