Gear doesn’t keep a family connected in a disaster. A plan everyone already knows does. Ready.gov says your family may not be together when a disaster strikes, so you need to know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect. This page gives you a template to fill in. It takes about an hour, and most of it costs nothing.
Fill it in together, print it, and give everyone a copy for their wallet, backpack or glove box. FEMA’s template does the same and suggests posting a copy somewhere central, like the fridge (FEMA P-1094).
1. Who’s in the household
- First names only on the printed copy. Never post this list online.
- Note anyone with medical or mobility needs, or who relies on powered equipment, and where that equipment and its backup power are kept.
- Note who can drive, who has a radio license, and who looks after pets.
- List the schools, child care and workplaces, and find out their own emergency plans. FEMA suggests this too.
2. One out-of-area contact
Choose one relative or friend outside the Pacific Northwest whom everyone will text. In a regional disaster, a message to somewhere far away can get through while local networks are jammed. Your contact collects the “I’m OK” messages and passes them along.
- Everyone memorizes the number, or writes it on the card.
- The message to send: “OK + where I am + next check-in.” Example: “OK. At school gym. Next check-in 3 pm.”
- Pick a backup contact in case the first one can’t be reached.
3. Three meeting places
| Where | Example | When |
|---|---|---|
| At home | The front porch, or the mailbox | Fire, gas smell, or the house is unsafe |
| Nearby | A neighbor’s driveway, a park entrance | You can’t get home or into the house |
| Out of the neighborhood | A relative’s home, a library | The neighborhood is closed off |
If your city runs neighborhood emergency hubs, add the nearest one. Seattle has a Community Emergency Hubs program; search the directory for programs near you.
4. Text first, and set check-in times
- Text before calling. FEMA: “a text message may get through when a phone call will not,” and texts can be saved and sent automatically when capacity returns.
- Set check-in times for when phones are patchy, for example the first five minutes of every hour (minutes 0 to 5). Everyone sends their check-in then, and radios only need to be switched on and listening at those times. That saves batteries.
- If someone misses two check-ins in a row, move to the next rung of the ladder below. Don’t wait.
5. Your ladder of channels
Try each rung in order. Write down what your household actually has, and cross out the rest.
- Phone call. Keep it short.
- Text message. Use your household group and your out-of-area contact.
- Satellite texting on a phone that supports it. You must be outdoors with a clear view of the sky. See satellite texting on your phone.
- FRS or GMRS radios on an agreed channel. Write the channel number down. Use plain language, with no codes. See FRS vs GMRS.
- Community LoRa mesh, if your area has one and your household has nodes on the same settings. Agree on a private channel or direct message. See join your local mesh.
- Ham radio, through a licensed family member, or through a neighborhood hub or emergency comms group that uses it. See getting your ham license.
- Go to the meeting place at the agreed time.
Call 911 if you can. Mesh and radio are best-effort backups.
6. Alerts
- Wireless Emergency Alerts on, on every phone.
- Signed up for your county’s opt-in alerts. WA EMD says local hazards such as floods and road closures may not reach you otherwise (WA EMD). Find your county’s link on its county page.
- A NOAA Weather Radio programmed for your county. See NOAA Weather Radio and emergency alerts.
7. Power for your communications
- What to charge first: the phones you’ll use for check-ins, then radios, then everything else.
- A charged battery bank for each person who carries a phone.
- Spare batteries for radios and the weather radio, in the sizes they actually use.
- Read your first 30 minutes after the power goes out.
8. Radio cheat sheet (if you have radios)
- Channel: the main channel and a backup channel, by number.
- License: if you use GMRS, who holds the family license. Under 47 CFR §95.1705, a GMRS license covers immediate family members. Keep the call sign on the paper copy only.
- How to identify: GMRS stations say their call sign at the end of a conversation and every 15 minutes during long ones.
- Radio check: “This is [first name] at home, radio check.” The other person answers “Loud and clear” or “Weak.”
- Plain language only. No secret codes on GMRS (47 CFR §95.1733). Never say on air that a house is empty.
9. Practice
- Monthly, five minutes: everyone sends their check-in text at the agreed time. If you have radios, do a radio check.
- Twice a year: do a “lights-out” evening. Use only the plan, the radios and the battery banks for a few hours.
- Meet your neighbors. Washington’s Map Your Neighborhood program gives you a simple way to start: gather neighbors, list skills and equipment, and note who needs a check-on.
What a plan does not do
- A plan doesn’t make networks work. It tells you what to try next when they don’t.
- It can’t reach someone whose phone or radio is off, or who is out of range. That’s why you also have meeting places.
- It isn’t private. Radio and public mesh channels can be overheard, so keep personal details off the air.
Printable card
Copy this onto an index card for each person.
- Out-of-area contact: ____________ (backup: ____________)
- Meeting places: home ____________ / nearby ____________ / outside the neighborhood ____________
- Check-in times: minutes 0 to 5 of every hour, or ____________
- Radio channel: main ____ / backup ____
- My county alert sign-up: done / not yet
- Message format: OK + where I am + next check-in