Family Emergency Plan in 4 Steps, Pick a Meeting Place First
Make a family emergency plan in four steps, starting with a familiar, easy-to-find meeting place: Ready.gov says your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so know ahead of time how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. The four steps are meeting with your family, assessing your household’s needs, writing the plan down and practicing it.
When you meet with your family, Ready.gov lists five questions: how you’ll get emergency alerts, where you’ll shelter, your evacuation route, how your household will communicate and whether your emergency kit needs updating.
The four steps
Ready.gov explains (Ready.gov make a plan):
- Step 1, meet with your family: go through those five questions together.
- Step 2, assess your household’s needs: tailor the plan to your household; the things to consider are listed below.
- Step 3, write it down: use Ready.gov’s fillable form to put your family emergency plan on paper.
- Step 4, practice: practice the plan with your household.
Things to consider
- Ages: the different ages of people in your household.
- Who helps whom: whether anyone needs help, and who’s responsible.
- Places you go often: the places family members visit frequently.
- Food and medical needs: dietary needs, prescriptions and medical equipment.
- Disabilities: access and functional needs, including devices and equipment.
- Languages spoken.
- Cultural and religious considerations.
- Pets or service animals.
- Households with school-aged children.
For what to put in an emergency kit, see Emergency Kits, 1 Gallon of Water a Day Each, Food for Days; for getting official alerts on your phone, see Phone Emergency Alerts Are Free, Some Phones Need Them On; for what to do in an earthquake, see In a Quake, Drop, Cover, Hold On, Secure Heavy Items First.
What this article did not check
- Your children’s school emergency plans: this page only lists households with school-aged children as something to consider, and this article did not check school arrangements.
- Evacuation routes and shelters where you live: this article did not check.
Frequently asked questions
What should a family emergency plan cover?
Ready.gov lists five questions: how you’ll get alerts, where you’ll shelter, your evacuation route, how your household will communicate and whether your kit needs updating.
Where should the meeting place be?
Ready.gov says somewhere familiar and easy to find.
Someone in my family doesn’t speak much English. Does that matter?
Yes. Ready.gov lists languages spoken as something to consider when assessing your household’s needs.
Once it’s written down, am I done?
No. Step 4 is practicing it with your household.
Sources and dates checked
All checked on 2026-10-31.
- Ready.gov, Make A Plan (page updated 2026-09-01):https://www.ready.gov/plan