Are You Ready? A Guide to Citizen Preparedness brings together facts on disaster survival techniques, disaster-specific information, and how to prepare for and respond to both natural and man-made disaster.
As the most comprehensive guide to personal emergency preparedness published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Are You Ready? will help individuals prepare themselves and their families for disasters.
Revised in August 2004, Are You Ready? provides a step-by-step outline on how to prepare a disaster supply kit, emergency planning for people with disabilities, how to locate and evacuate to a shelter, and even contingency planning for family pets. Man-made threats from hazardous materials and terrorism are also treated in detail. The guide details opportunities for every citizen to become involved in safeguarding their neighbors and communities through FEMA's Citizen Corps (www.citizencorps.gov) initiative and Community Emergency Response Teams (CETA) training program.
Copies of Are You Ready? are available through the FEMA Publications Warehouse (1.800.480.2520), FEMA publication H-34. You can also download it by clicking here.
As the most comprehensive guide to personal emergency preparedness published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Are You Ready? will help individuals prepare themselves and their families for disasters.
Revised in August 2004, Are You Ready? provides a step-by-step outline on how to prepare a disaster supply kit, emergency planning for people with disabilities, how to locate and evacuate to a shelter, and even contingency planning for family pets. Man-made threats from hazardous materials and terrorism are also treated in detail. The guide details opportunities for every citizen to become involved in safeguarding their neighbors and communities through FEMA's Citizen Corps (www.citizencorps.gov) initiative and Community Emergency Response Teams (CETA) training program.
Copies of Are You Ready? are available through the FEMA Publications Warehouse (1.800.480.2520), FEMA publication H-34. You can also download it by clicking here.
Shelter-in-Place
- Stay calm
- Take your family and pets inside your home and remain there
- Turn on your TELEVISION and radio and listen for Emergency Alert System (EAS) information, instructions, and updates.
- Close and lock all windows and doors in your home.
- Turn off all air conditioners, fans, vents and heating systems, etc. that draw in outside air.
- Close the fireplace damper.
- Use the phone only for emergency calls.
- Go to the highest room above ground (not the basement) with the fewest windows and doors.
- Take your Home Emergency Supply Kit with you to this room.
- If necessary, place damp towels in the cracks under the doors. Tape around doors, windows, and exhaust fans or vents. Use plastic to cover the windows, outlets and heat registers.
- If necessary, children at affected schools will be sheltered there. Parents should not go to the schools unless advised to do so.
- Stay in this room and listen to your radio or television until local authorities tell you that all is safe or you are told to evacuate.
- When the local authorities announce the end of the emergency, ventilate your home by opening doors and windows and going outside.
Prepare to Evacuate
- Do not leave your home at this stage!
- Stay tuned to your local radio and television for further instructions to prepare to evacuate.
- Prepare your home for a three-day absence. Turn off small appliances, faucets and lights and turn down your furnace, if it is on. Be sure all air conditioners and fans are off. Lock windows and doors.
- Check your Emergency Supply Kit, making sure everything needed is there, and keep it close at hand.
Evacuate
- An evacuation will be ordered if the community is threatened and there is time to safely evacuate in an orderly manner.
- Local officials will specify which areas of the community must evacuate and when they should actually leave.
- If the evacuation order applies to you, leave your area when instructed. Local officials will inform and direct you as to which route to follow to the designated safe shelter location identified for your use. Use one car per family. Close all car windows and vents. Listen to your radio for traffic information.
- When evacuating, take only necessities. Pets will not be allowed in shelters; provide adequate food and water for them.
- You may return to your home as soon as the emergency is declared over and it is safe to return.
- If the emergency involved an airborne hazardous material, open windows and doors when you return and stay outside until the building are well ventilated.
