Emergency Guidance for Families
You can follow the guidance on this page to prepare your family to deal with an emergency, or if you would prefer to download a copy please use the links.
Family Emergency Plan Microsoft Word
Family Emergency Information Guide
This guide will help you:
Plan to protect your family
Prepare an Emergency Box
Find further information
This guide will help you take some simple steps to reduce the impact of an emergency on your family.
It does not require any specialist knowledge, only a few minutes of your time.
Emergency planning is undertaken everyday by Local Authorities and Emergency Services within Norfolk as part of the national resilience planning structure. Emergency Planning is about reducing the likelihood and impact of an emergency in Norfolk.
This Emergency Guidance is provided as general information about planning for emergencies. It is not intended to replace detailed guidance and planning specific to you and your business. You should consider whether you need to obtain this. To the extent permitted by law, Norfolk County Council and NORMIT excludes any liability arising from the use of the Emergency Guidance and plans.
What are the hazards?
There are a number of hazards that have affected families in Norfolk. They include:
Fire
Extreme weather
Flooding
Utilities failure
Chemical spill
Transport Collision
How could this affect you?
Hazards may affect your family in a number of ways. The impact could be caused by any number of emergencies but create the same effects:
Loss of electricity, telephone, water or gas
Short-term evacuation
Temporary isolation
Damage to building
Injury or death of members of the family
Family Emergency Plan
The family emergency plan ideally should be written but could take the form of a discussion to agree how your family will react.
If an emergency occurs dial 999. The Emergency Services deal with emergencies on a daily basis. During an emergency, follow instructions given to you by the Emergency Services. If you are not directly involved keep away from the scene to enable Emergency Services access.
In an emergency where do I find information?
Go in, stay in, tune in. During major emergencies the public may be given advice via the radio and television. It is recommended you tune into your local radio station: • BBC Radio Norfolk (95.1 &104.4 FM) • North Norfolk Radio (96.2 &103.2 FM) • Heart FM(102.4 FM) • The Beach Radio (103.4 & 97.4 FM) • King’s Lynn FM (96.7 FM) • SGR (96.4 & 97.1 FM)
Why do I need an Emergency Box?
An Emergency Box holds vital personal information and items that might be useful in an emergency. The Box should be small enough to carry and be stored in a safe/secure place that everyone in your family can find. Details of what should be in the Box are in the next section.
How will the family contact each other? History has shown that, during an emergency, the telephone system may be overloaded particularly mobile phone networks. Calls should be kept short, as the emergency services need the lines for communication. A pre-arranged meeting point may be beneficial. The meeting point may need to be away from home where access may have been restricted. Is there a friend or relative’s you could use as a meeting place?
What might happen if you are evacuated?
If an emergency requires you to leave your home, and it is safe to do so, turn off your electricity and water, and take your emergency box. The Local Authority may provide shelter on a temporary basis in the form of an Emergency Rest Centre.
On arrival at the centre you will be asked to register. This will involve giving some information such as your name and contact details. It will help the staff at the rest centre cater for your needs and members of your family find each other. It may take a while to get the information required from a large group of people but it is very important that everyone is registered.
The accommodation is likely to be in a public building and while every effort will have been made to ensure the accommodation is comfortable, it will be communal and may be crowded. You should consider:
What relatives/friends you have that could accommodate you
Whether your home insurance covers temporary accommodation
How will pets be looked after in an emergency?
For many of us our pet is an
important member of our household. In an emergency it is useful to have thought
through what your pet will need.
Family Emergency Box
What is an Emergency Box?
You may already have the beginnings of an Emergency Box at home - somewhere containing a first aid kit or torch. The Box should be small enough to carry and be stored in a secure place that everyone in your family can find. The Box should be maintained and checked regularly.
What should go in the Emergency Box?
- Details of any prescription medicines for family.
- Telephone numbers, Insurance details, and reference numbers for utility companies (see Emergency Contact Sheet on next page)
- Toiletries
- An extra set of contact lenses or glasses
- First Aid kit
- Battery powered radio, torch and extra batteries
- Notebook and pen/pencil
- Mobile phone charger
A checklist that you can print out and complete can be accessed by following the links