Household emergency plan: a family template to fill in

What a household emergency plan covers

Ready.gov’s Make a Plan page starts with questions for a household meeting, including how you will receive emergency alerts and warnings, what your shelter plan is, what your evacuation route is, and what your family communication plan is. It then asks you to think about the needs of everyone at home: ages, diets, medical needs including prescriptions and equipment, disabilities, pets or service animals, languages and cultural or religious needs. The household emergency plan from the UK Government’s Be Ready campaign (October 2026) adds a list of medicines, insurance details, neighbours you might check on, the radio stations you use and where the shut-offs are. The builder collects the parts that matter in the first hours, when you need to find each other.

The out-of-area contact

FEMA’s Are You Ready? guide suggests an out-of-state point of contact, so everyone in the family can share updates through one person if local communication is unavailable, with at least two ways to reach them. Anyone far enough away to be unaffected works: a relative in another town, a friend abroad. Agree that everyone texts that person when they are safe. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada says text, email and social media use less network capacity than calls and may work even when phone service is disrupted, so the wallet card says to text if you can.

Meeting places

FEMA’s guide says to pick meeting places in different directions: one in your immediate neighbourhood and another further away, such as in a nearby town, somewhere everyone can reach. Get Prepared Canada suggests a safe place like a community centre, library or school; the UK plan suggests a community hub if you have one nearby, and says to follow the emergency services’ advice on when it is safe to go home. The near one is for a house fire or gas leak, when you leave in seconds; the far one is for when roads are closed or you are out when it happens.

Who collects the children

Get Prepared Canada says to know your school or daycare’s emergency policies and to give them the name of a designated person who can pick up your children if you can’t. The UK’s Be Ready advice is to check that the school or childcare provider has your correct contact numbers, and FEMA suggests asking how schools will communicate with parents, whether they keep supplies, and where they would evacuate and reunite families. Put a first and a back-up collector against each child, and tell the school both names.

Pets

Ready.gov says that if local officials ask you to evacuate, your pet should evacuate too, and that many public shelters and hotels do not allow pets inside. Get Prepared Canada suggests identifying kennels or friends’ homes where pets can go in an emergency, and Ready.gov a buddy system with neighbours, friends or relatives who can care for or evacuate your pets if you can’t. Write each pet’s plan in a line.

Utility shut-offs: know where, not how to fix

FEMA’s guide says that if there is damage to your home and you are told to, shut off water, gas and electricity before leaving, and to learn how beforehand from a professional plumber or electrician, your local utility provider or Ready.gov. The UK’s Be Ready advice says to know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water, as you will need to if you have to leave because of flooding, and its plan says you can turn the water and electricity back on yourself but not the gas: that must be done by a qualified engineer. FEMA agrees that only professionals should turn your gas supply back on, and says that if you smell gas or hear a hissing or blowing sound, open a window and leave immediately. Get Prepared Canada says local authorities may advise you to turn utilities off or leave them on, so follow their instructions. If a valve is stiff, rusted or you are unsure which it is, ask your utility company or a qualified engineer or plumber to show you; don’t force it.

Keep it where you can find it

The UK plan says to print or write it out and keep it somewhere safe and easy to find in a power cut, and to set a reminder to update it. FEMA suggests everyone carries a wallet card or a digital copy, with a copy posted somewhere central such as the fridge, and practising the plan like a fire drill. The UK also suggests adding emergency contacts and medical information to your phone, often called ICE or Medical ID. Moving house? Redo the shut-offs and meeting places the week you move; our sister site Calm Doorway has a moving checklist, and Porch Petal a home inventory list that helps with insurance claims.

Common mistakes

• A plan only one person knows. Go through it together and practise the meeting places.
• Numbers only in a phone. A flat battery takes them with it; the wallet card fixes that.
• Both contacts in the same town. The out-of-area contact needs to be outside the emergency.
• Turning the gas back on yourself. Never: leave it to a professional.

Pair the plan with the emergency kit list and a go bag, whose door card repeats the meeting place.

General information, not legal or medical advice. In an emergency, call your emergency number and follow the emergency services’ instructions. If you smell gas, open a window and leave straight away, then call your gas emergency line.