Prepare You and Your Family

Infants and Young Children

Infants and Young Children rely completely on the parents. You will want to make sure you obtain the following basic supplies:

  • Formula
  • Diapers
  • Bottles
  • Powdered milk
  • Medications
  • Moist towelettes
  • Diaper rash ointment

Get copies and maintain electronic versions of health records from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other sources and store them, for personal reference.

For More information please visit Ready.gov.

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Kids

Preparing for emergencies shouldn't fall on your shoulders alone. Make disaster preparedness a fun activity. Talk to your children about disasters and what you might do. Young children and teens alike need to be part of the process — for their own safety and sense of empowerment.

  • Work together to build an emergency kit.
  • Sit down as a family to talk about your communications plan.
  • Role-play what you would do during a disaster.

Disasters can leave children and teens feeling frightened, confused and insecure. And kids' responses can be quite varied. It's important to not only recognize these reactions, but also help children cope with their emotions.

  • Encourage Dialogue
  • Answer Questions
  • Be Calm and Be Reassuring
  • Find Support

For more information on preparing your kids for a disaster, please visit Ready.gov.

Access and Functional Needs

Those of us with access or functional needs will have different preparedness requirements. We touch on some of those considerations here.

Deaf or Hard of Hearing

  • Extra batteries and spare charger for hearing aids
  • Consider how to receive emergency information such as through social media though a mobile device
  • Keep a TTY or other analog-based amplified or captioned phone as part of your emergency supply kit

Blind or Low Vision

  • Keep Braille/text communication cards, if used, for 2-way communication.
  • Mark emergency supplies with Braille labels or large print
  • Keep a Braille, or Deaf-Blind communications device as part of your emergency supply kit

Mobility Disability

  • If you use a powered wheelchair, if possible, have a lightweight manual chair available
  • Purchase an extra battery for a power wheelchair or other battery-operated medical or assistive technology devices
  • Keep an extra mobility device such as a cane or walker, if you use one
  • If you use a seat cushion to protect your skin or maintain your balance, and you must evacuate without your wheelchair, take your cushion

Service Animals

  • Have identification, licenses, leash, harness and favorite toy for your service animal
  • Stock food, water, portable water dish, potty pads and bags, and medications
  • Consider paw protection.
  • Plan for someone else to take care of your service animal if you are not able to following a disaster

For more information on preparing for access and functional needs, please visit Ready.gov website.

Pets

Our pets are an important part of our lives. To ensure their safety, we encourage you to make sure your pet’s tags are up-to-date and securely fastened to your pet's collar. If possible, attach the address and/or phone number of your evacuation site. If your pet gets lost, his tag is his ticket home. Also consider microchipping your pets.

Make sure you have a current photo of your pet for identification purposes. Make a pet emergency kit. Download Preparing Makes Sense for Pet Owners for a full list of items to include in your pets kit.

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Check out this quick list:

  • Pet food
  • Bottled water
  • Medications
  • Veterinary records
  • Cat litter/pan
  • Manual can opener
  • Food dishes
  • First aid kit and other supplies
  • Identify shelters. For public health reasons, many emergency shelters cannot accept pets. Find out which motels and hotels in the area you plan to evacuate to allow pets well in advance of needing them. There are also a number of guides that list hotels/motels that permit pets and could serve as a starting point. Include your local animal shelter's number in your list of emergency numbers.
  • Make sure you have a secure pet carrier, leash or harness for your pet so that if he panics, he can't escape.
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Evacuation

Prepare now in the event of an evacuation.

Evacuations are more common than many people realize. Fires and floods cause evacuations most frequently across the U.S. and almost every year, people along coastlines evacuate as hurricanes approach. In addition, hundreds of times a year, transportation and industrial accidents release harmful substances, forcing many people to leave their homes.

In some circumstances, local officials decide that the hazards are serious and require mandatory evacuations. In others, evacuations are advised or households decide to evacuate to avoid situations they believe are potentially dangerous. When community evacuations become necessary local officials provide information to the public through the media. In some circumstances, other warning methods, such as sirens, text alerts, emails or telephone calls are used.

For more information on preparing for evacuations, please visit the Ready.gov website.

Recovery

Recovery is the immediate, short, and long-term actions taken in the aftermath of a disaster to assist in restoring the community. It is important to note that this is usually a gradual process. Safety and mental and physical well-being are key issues to consider during recovery.

If assistance is available, knowing how to access it makes the process faster and less stressful. For more information on how to facilitate recovery, please visit the Monterey California website.

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