Out-of-Town Contact

Your Out-of-Town contact should be a friend or relative who lives out of town, but preferably close enough to drive to, and who family members can contact after a disaster to report their location. Be sure to inform the person that they are your out-of-town contact.

Each member of your family must know the out-of-town contact’s phone numbers, and hen you are deciding who to choose, keep in mind that following a disaster it is usually easier to make a long distance call than a local call from a disaster hit area.

Rendezvous Location

Your rendezvous location should be a safe place located right outside of your home. This is the place you should meet your family members if you are in an emergency situation that requires evacuation or if family members become separated from each other. Educate and train all family members on how to get to these locations. It is also recommended that you choose a second meeting location in a safe place just outside your neighborhood.

Personal Emergency Cards

After collecting all the information, you should process that information into a family action plan. The first step in formulating this plan is to create a personal emergency card for every family member to carry in a wallet or purse. The card should contain all the important information to be used following a disaster by family members or by local officials and relief workers. It’s best to keep one copy of the emergency card in your emergency kit and one in a safe location at home.

Personal emergency cards should consist of personal information like name, home address, social security number, blood type, and meeting locations and should also include the following:

Family Communication Plan

A communication plan is a very important part of the entire family emergency plan and is, in its most basic form, a contact list. The family communication plan should the following contact numbers: 911 (for police, fire department, and paramedics), out-of-town contact, several family members, meeting locations phone numbers

National Poison Control Center: (800) 222-1222

Supplementary Emergency Information

Every family member’s personal card should include the following additional information: meeting locations, important medical information, family doctor (name and phone number), and health insurance policy number.