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Prepare an Emergency Plan
 The best way to be prepared for any emergency is to create a household Emergency Plan. Talk with members of your household about emergencies: what to do, how to find each other, and how to stay in contact during an emergency. Plan to share responsibilities and work together as a team. Be ready to Shelter in Place for at least three days. If officials give the order, be ready to Evacuate.
Emergency preparedness is simple if you plan ahead. It is easy and inexpensive for anyone. Here are a few simple steps you should follow:
Pick Meeting Places
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Decide where your household will meet after an emergency. You need two places to meet: one right outside your home, and another outside your neighborhood, such as a library, community center, or place of worship.
Practice getting out of your home using different doors. Practice getting to your two emergency meeting places. Make sure your children know how to get there.
Get in the habit of noticing the exit signs around you – whether you are in an office building, at the mall, or on a bus.
Plan for everyone in your household – especially those with special needs, such as seniors, people with disabilities, and non-English speakers. Even include your pets in emergency preparedness.
Create a Family Communications Plan
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Ask an out-of-state friend or relative to be someone that household members can call during an emergency. (If Philadelphia phone circuits are busy, long distance calls may be easier to make.) -
Be sure every member of your family knows the emergency phone number and keeps coins or a prepaid phone card on hand. -
Be patient. You may have trouble getting through, or the telephone system may be down altogether.
Give everyone in your house a copy of your emergency plan and emergency contact information to keep in their wallets and backpacks.
Use the Emergency Plan Card to write down your emergency information. Make copies for all your household members to keep in their wallets or backpacks.
Emergency Information
- The Philadelphia area may experience flooding, severe winter storms, hurricanes, heat waves, fires, a hazardous materials incident or a possible terrorist attack.
- Know how you will be notified in an emergency
- Methods of alerting you vary from community to community. One common method is to broadcast via emergency radio and TV news. Others include special sirens, telephone calls, or emergency workers going door to door.
- Learn about Philadelphia's Emergency Evacuation Plans.
High-Rise Safety
Schools, businesses, and apartment buildings should all have site-specific emergency plans. It is important to know what those plans are and what your responsibilities might be during an emergency. Click here to learn about Center City's High-Rise Evacuation Plans.
High-rise Safety Tips:
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Know where the closest emergency exit is -
Be sure you know another way out in case your first choice is blocked -
Take cover under a desk or table if things are falling -
Move away from file cabinets, bookshelves or other things that might fall -
Face away from windows and glass -
Move away from exterior walls -
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Listen for and follow instructions -
Take your Go Bag, unless there is reason to believe it has been contaminated -
Do not use elevators -
While going down stairwells, stay to the right to allow emergency workers to come up
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