By: Melanie Thompson

You hear it time and again: make sure you have a plan for emergencies.  Sometimes we hear things so often that we just let the message go in one ear and out the other.  But today, I want you to really pay attention!

In northeast Nebraska, you can guarantee that there will be a natural disaster this year; you can guarantee that there will be a natural disaster every year, actually.  This is the time of year when spring storms can spawn tornadic activity.  So do you have a plan for your safety and for your family’s safety?

Now, you might know that when there is a tornado, your family will go to the basement, or you’ll go to the neighbor’s basement or you’ll find shelter in an inside room.  But do your children know what to do?  There is a chance that your older children might be home alone when bad weather hits, so make sure that they know where to go and what to do.

In this day and age, it is getting rare for people to have a landline into their home.  If your children are home alone, do they have a way to contact you?  Remember that electricity may go out in an emergency and with the electricity, your internet service may go out.  If you are planning on having your children access a computer and message you through that, it may be unavailable.  Even if they have a cell phone, cell phone towers can be cut during an electrical outage or can be overwhelmed by the number of people using the system in an emergency.  Encourage your children to text when they can’t call—sometimes texting is a better way to send and receive messages during those situations.  And always tell them that you will be coming for them and to stay in the area of their home if at all possible after a disaster.  Sometimes this isn’t feasible, so have a location where your family can go following a disaster and TALK about where you would go and what you would do.  Letting your kids know that communication in a disaster might not work but that you are coming for them will go a long way into keeping them calm in that type of situation. 

This is really just the tip of the iceberg in emergency planning.  There are so many other aspects of emergency planning to consider such as:

·         Do you have copies of important papers and do you keep them in a safe location?

·         Do you have pet supplies that you can easily grab if you have to relocate them?  Do you have adequate pet carriers/cages, leashes, food, medication for them?  When planning for emergency water supplies, do you plan for their needs, as well?

·         For those of you who depend on medications for survival, what is your plan for making sure you have that medication in an emergency?  For example, if you are diabetic and rely on insulin, do you have spare insulin and how will you keep it refrigerated during a disaster?  If you must take an anticoagulant such as Plavix on a daily basis, do you refill your medications as soon as possible so that you won’t run out, or do you procrastinate getting your refills?  Do you keep your medications in one spot so that you can take them to the basement with you if you are in a tornado warning?

·         Do you keep a first aid kit in every vehicle you own?  What about extra emergency supplies for various times of the year?  In the winter, do you put a winter car kit in your vehicles?  In the summer, do you stash some extra water, sunscreen and bug spray or wipes in the vehicle? 

·         How about your fire/smoke alarms and fire extinguishers?  Do you have these in your homes?  Do the alarms have fresh batteries in them?  Do you know how to operate a fire extinguisher?  Do your vehicles have fire extinguishers in them? 

These are just some of the planning issues you should consider.  For more guidance on what to consider in emergency planning, please visit www.ready.gov.  For information on making plans for tornado readiness, you go directly to https://www.ready.gov/tornadoes for that information.   It really is important to have an emergency kit ready for yourself and your family (including your pets).  Please visit https://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit for ideas on a kit.  There are many resources available online for kit ideas, so take advantage of technology and use those ideas you find online to prepare yourself for a disaster!