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How can I prepare for disasters and emergencies?
The Municipality of Anchorage recommends the 6 basic steps of emergency preparedness listed below. Use these steps to create a personal disaster action plan:
1. Create a disaster kit for your home.
- Store your kit in a convenient place known to all family members.
- Keep items in air-tight plastic bags.
- Change your stored water supply every six months so it stays fresh.
- Rotate your stored food every six months.
- Re-think your kit and family needs at least once a year. Replace batteries, update clothes, etc.
- Ask your physician or pharmacist about storing prescription medications.
Click here to download a complete disaster kit supply checklist.
2. Create a disaster kit for your vehicle.
Disasters can strike at any time. In some situations, you may not be able to return home immediately. Keep a smaller version of your disaster supply kit in your car. Additionally, keep extra clothing, comfortable shoes and a sleeping bag in your vehicle.
3. Select a meeting place for your family.
During a disaster, the safety of your family will be your highest priority. In the aftermath of a disaster, access to your home may be blocked or your home may be damaged or uninhabitable. To ensure that your family will be able to find each other quickly in the aftermath of a disaster, select a secondary meeting place. Choose a central facility like a school, church or local government building.
4. Plan how your family will stay in contact is separated by disaster.
Communications are often interrupted or unavailable during emergencies (telephone lines may be damaged, cell phones systems may be overwhelmed).
In order to ensure that your family is able to stay in contact after a disaster, create a family communications plan.
Because an individual who does not live in the same state is less likely to be impacted by a local disaster, it is best to identify an individual who lives in another state as your family “check-in-contact”. Historically, long-distance lines are repaired more quickly than local lines in the aftermath of an emergency. Your family may be about to contact an out-of-state relative before they are able to call across town.
Make sure that every member of your family carries this number with them at all times. Keep a copy of this number in your home disaster kit and your car disaster kit.
5. Know your school’s disaster plan.
Every school in the Anchorage school district has a unique disaster plan that includes shelter list, supplies, and evacuation plan. Parents should know their school’s disaster plan and develop their family’s disaster plan accordingly.
Remember, in the aftermath of an emergency, school phone lines will be overwhelmed. Schools may enter into a “lock-down” phase or evacuate students to a nearby school or facility. Knowing your school’s disaster plan can alleviate a great deal of stress during any emergency.
6. Attend an AWARE Academy class.
These free, 2-hour emergency preparedness classes are open to the public. Call the AWARE hotline at 343-6114 for the latest class schedules.
Key Questions
When creating your Disaster Action Plan, ask yourself the following questions:
- Communication (even cell phones) may be unavailable; how will you keep in touch with family?
- Infrastructure like roads and bridges may be damaged – what will you do if you are unable to go home?
- School buildings may be damaged and your children may be taken to another location -- where would you go to get them?
- Stores, banks and gas stations may be closed or damaged -- how would you get food?
- Hospitals and clinics may be damaged or full -- are you prepared to administer basic medical care?
For more information about developing your personal disaster plan, visit the following sites:
• Family Plan (PDF)
• Disaster Supplies (PDF)
• Food and Water in an Emergency (PDF)
• Emergency Checklist (PDF)
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