---
title: "Family Emergency Plan Template & Wallet Card | Pack Whistle"
description: "Free family emergency plan template: meeting places, an out-of-area contact, who collects the children, pets and shut-offs, plus a wallet card to print."
url: https://packwhistle.me/household-emergency-plan/
---

Household emergency plan builder

# Household emergency plan: a family template to fill in

A household emergency plan says how you will reach each other and where you will meet if you can’t get home or the phones are down. Ready.gov, FEMA, the UK Government and Get Prepared Canada ask for the same core: everyone’s numbers, an out-of-area contact, a meeting place near home and one further away, who collects the children, a plan for pets and where the water, gas and electricity shut-offs are. Fill it in below to print a plan and a wallet card. It is stored only in this browser, and only when you press Save.

## 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

Find all three before you need them; write where they are on the plan.

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](https://calmdoorway.homes/) has a moving checklist, and [Porch Petal](https://porchpetal.homes/) a home inventory list that helps with insurance claims.

### Giving after a disaster? Check the charity first

After weather emergencies, the US Federal Trade Commission warns, scammers are busy trying to take advantage, and some use names that sound a lot like real charities. Before you give through an unfamiliar appeal site, look the charity up on the official register: the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search in the US, the Charity Commission register for England and Wales, or the Scottish Charity Register.

WebTraceCheck’s free [DNS and domain lookup](https://webtracecheck.com/dns-lookup) shows when a site’s domain was registered: a relief site registered last week is one more reason to check, though a domain’s age alone never proves a site is genuine or a scam. To look at an unfamiliar donation link without opening it on your own device, use its [disposable cloud browser](https://webtracecheck.com/), an isolated desktop deleted after each session.

## 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](https://packwhistle.me/) and a [go bag](https://packwhistle.me/go-bag-checklist/), 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.

## Sources

All checked on 5 November 2026.

- Ready.gov (FEMA): [Make a Plan](https://www.ready.gov/plan) (last updated 1 September 2026), [Pets](https://www.ready.gov/pets) (20 March 2026), [Home Fires](https://www.ready.gov/home-fires) (26 February 2026; call 9-1-1).
- FEMA: [Are You Ready? An In-Depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness](https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2021-11/are-you-ready-guide.pdf) (P-2064, September 2020).
- UK Government (Cabinet Office), Be Ready: [Be ready for emergencies](https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/be-ready-for-emergencies/) and the [Household emergency plan](https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/252/2026/10/Be-Ready_Household_Emergency_Plan_English_Final.pdf) (October 2026), with the numbers 999, 111, 101 and 105; [Power cuts](https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/be-informed-about-hazards/power-cuts/) (999 or 112 from a mobile).
- Government of Canada, Get Prepared: [Make an emergency plan](https://www.canada.ca/en/services/policing/emergencies/preparedness/get-prepared/make-plan.html) (12 September 2025). Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada: [Steps you can take to stay connected](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/emergency-communications/en/steps-you-can-take-stay-connected) (3 May 2021).
- Australia: [Victoria SES](https://www.ses.vic.gov.au/) (000 and 132 500) and [NSW SES](https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/plan-and-prepare/emergency-kit). European Commission: [112](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/112) (last updated 5 November 2026). New Zealand Police: [111](https://www.police.govt.nz/contact-us/111-police-emergency).
- Federal Trade Commission: [Dealing with weather emergencies](https://consumer.ftc.gov/features/dealing-weather-emergencies) and [Before Giving to a Charity](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/giving-charity) (September 2025). Registers: [IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/tax-exempt-organization-search), [Charity Commission for England and Wales](https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information), [Scottish Charity Register](https://www.oscr.org.uk/search/), and the [Fundraising Regulator directory](https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/directory).

## Questions

**What should a family emergency plan include?**

Everyone’s phone numbers, an out-of-area contact, a meeting place near home and one further away, who collects each child from school, a plan for pets, where the water, gas and electricity shut-offs are, medical notes and the emergency numbers for your country.

**Why do I need an out-of-area contact?**

So everyone can report in to one person who isn’t affected when local lines are busy or down. FEMA suggests an out-of-state point of contact with at least two ways to reach them, and texts may get through when calls don’t.

**Where is my household plan stored?**

Only in this browser’s local storage on this device, and only after you press Save. Nothing is sent anywhere. Delete saved plan removes it; clearing your browser data removes it too, so keep a printed copy.

**Should I turn off the gas in an emergency?**

Only if it is safe and you are told to, or you must leave because of flooding. If you smell gas or hear hissing, FEMA says to open a window and leave immediately. Never turn the gas back on yourself: only a qualified engineer or other professional should.

**How often should we practise the plan?**

FEMA says to practise it like a fire drill and to hold regular household meetings to go over it; the UK plan says to set a reminder to update it. Review it when someone moves, changes school or gets a new number.