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Action Plans

There is a general list of actions to be accomplished in order to truly be prepared. The planning booklet prepared by the State of Washington Department of Health, "Emergency Response Guide", was updated in 2007 and provides a lot of detail on the subject. The booklet is available by order in hard copy or for download at their website. If that copy is not available from their website, a downloaded copy is available here. The file is 5 megs in size and seems to download slowly, so be patient.

Main Steps

Here are the main steps you will need to take to be prepared for a disaster: store supplies, develop a "what if there were a disaster" family plan, and learn CPR and first aid.

It is said that if you don't start preparing within 24 hours of getting information, you won't ever do it.

Here are things that you can do today

• Begin storing water and food
• Establish an out-of-state contact and make sure everyone has the phone number. (Local phone lines and cell phones probably won't work while pay phones likely will. So make sure your contact is out-of-state and outside the local earthquake risk area of Northern California, Oregon, and Vancouver BC.)
• Keep your gas tank more than half full
• Have change for a pay phone

What I should do this week

• Put together car kit
• Keep getting home supplies together (see the checklists)

What I should do this month

• Set up neighborhood teams. 80% of help will come from neighbors (see Neighborhood Preparedness).
• Take CPR and First Aid training
• Do a home hazard hunt