Looking for ways to teach your family about emergency preparedness? Try these fun and easy emergency preparedness activities during your next Family Home Evening:
Identify safe places in the house and practice an earthquake drill.
Review fire safety tips and how to use your household fire extinguisher.
Practice evacuating the house as if there were a fire. Practice evacuating from a few different rooms, especially bedrooms, in the dark as if you did not have power.
Head outside and talk with your neighbors about disaster plans. Identify if neighbors have a special skill such as medical training or special tools such as work gloves and chainsaws to clear away debris.
Memorize family contact phone numbers, including your out-of-town emergency contact.
Check your emergency kits. Where are they stored and do they have everything you need? Some items in your disaster kits may have expired and need replacing. Kids might have outgrown clothes or shoes in their emergency kits as well.
Learn how to shut off the gas and water to your house.
Check your food and water storage supplies. Do they need to be rotated? Are there foods your family no longer likes to eat in your stash?
Practice eating a meal without power or gas from your food storage supply.
Review First Aid, CPR, and AED procedures. Where are your first aid kits and AEDs located? Do your kids know how to call 9-1-1?
Discuss emergency meeting points, both the one outside your house as well as the one outside your neighborhood in the event of an evacuation. Do your kids know where it is located and how to get there? Do they have the address memorized?
Discuss what types of emergencies are more likely to occur in your area and how to appropriately respond. Run mock drills.
Amy Sandoz is the owner of Ready Set Go Kits, an online source for emergency kits and disaster preparedness supplies for your family. Read more of her articles at her blog, Ready Set Go Kits Blog.
