DRAFT February 11, 2006

This plan is under development by the ECR Preparedness Team and neighborhood.

Personal Preparedness Plan

Instructions For Home Use

You will need this plan after a disaster

Memorize this cover page, then store copies of this entire document in each of your emergency supply locations, including a bag attached to your bed. You should be able to find this bag even if it is completely dark and your bed has moved across a bedroom filled with shattered glass. Your bed-bag should contain supplies for the first minutes after a night-time disaster, including:

• a flashlight
• a whistle
• a pair of shoes
• a pair of work gloves
• a crowbar to pry open a jammed door
• warm, protective clothing
• a copy of this plan

Duck, Cover and Hold

In case of earthquake, most injuries are a result of running through broken glass or into falling objects. Your best defense is to duck underneath a piece of furniture and hold onto it while the shaking continues. A door frame may not be safe if it is not an integral part of the building structure. If you are in bed, stay in bed.

Exit Your Home

When the shaking stops, wear protective clothing and exit your home using one of the escape routes you have already practiced. Carry this plan with you. If you cannot move, make noise.

Go To Your Home Meeting Place

Do not reenter your home unless you are sure it is safe. People die each year running back into their home to find a family member who has already safely exited and is not waiting at the designated meeting place.

Sample Plan: Day of Disaster Checklist

1. Check your home (only if it seems safe to do so)

• Is anyone seriously injured?
If YES, go to your designated section meeting place and tell the first aid coordinator.

Your section meeting place:

• Any fire?
If YES,
• Small, campfire size?
If YES, extinguish it.
• Large fire (door size or larger)?
If YES, implement your evacuation plan; a large hot fire demands evacuation; if it's realistic, fight the fire after evacuation.
• Smell gas? Is the gas meter spinning rapidly?
If YES, use no matches, candles, electrical switches or plugs, flashlights, or other spark producers; go outside to turn off the gas at the meter; turn off the electricity from outside if possible (only if there's a gas smell).
If NO, do not turn off the gas at meter. This will keep your pilot lights on and your service intact.
• Water (plumbing) leaks?
If YES, shut off the water at the main (Caution! Sewer damage in the hills above you threatens your water purity. You can fill your tubs, etc. then shut down the system).
• Everything is OK and you will be staying at home?
Hang a white towel or sheet out in front. Go to #2.
• Everything is OK and you will be leaving your home?
• Hang something green out in front. This means you have left. Turn off the electricity at the meter before you leave (When a neighborhood's power is restored, forgotten electrical appliances that have fallen or were left on, start the majority of fires in evacuated homes).
• Post a note on your front door telling rescue workers how to contact you. The Search and Rescue team will take the note to your disaster headquarters.
• Go to #2: check in at the designated section meeting place (see above) and leave another contact note on the community bulletin board.



2. Gather at the designated section meeting (see above).

This will be your self-help center. Here you can find neighbors to help you with injuries, rescues, etc. Bring your neighborhood maps, your household information forms and any vital information on neighbors with special needs. Establish a community bulletin board at the assembly point. After assessment, unless you have a neighborhood supply box, bring:
• Tools (chainsaw, crowbar, axe, fire extinguisher, etc.)
• Work clothing (heavy boots, work gloves, hardhat, kerchief, safety glasses, dustmasks, etc.)
• Extra first aid supplies and nonprescription medicines (bandages, crutches, aspirin, etc.)

You may also find useful supplies in your section supply cache.

Location and access into your supply cache

3. Help the following neighborhood volunteers organize their tasks:

• Disaster Coordinator
Responsible for overall coordination of neighborhood plan, both before and after the disaster.
• Fire Suppression/Utility Coordinator
Extinguishes small fires and contains large fires, sets up and maintains electric generator, identifies and cordons off downed power lines.
• First Aid Coordinator
Establishes a neighborhood first aid station and identifies those who require skilled medical care (triage).
• Neighborhood Communicator
Responsible for establishing and maintaining communications within the neighborhood and with officials at the neighborhood fire station.
• Search and Rescue Coordinator
Responsible for directing a systematic search of homes in the neighborhood and rescue of trapped and injured persons. Also, oversees utility shutdown, looter patrol, identifying hazards, traffic control and pet location.
Directs a systematic survey of the neighborhood; reports preliminary habitability to homeowners and damage estimates to officials.
• Shelter/Child & Elder Care Coordinator
Identifies households able to shelter the homeless and ensures each child and elder has an assigned caretaker.