Who will you consider in your emergency plan?

Who you should consider in your emergency plan extends beyond just your immediate household, and should include considerations for pets and livestock, your neighbours as well as other people you care for but may not live with.

Your Household

Most people consider their immediate family or household in their plan. However sometimes they forget to consider:

• To plan for a situation where not all the family are home at the same time:
  • Does everyone know where to meet?
  • Who will pack items from home, how will they know what they are?
  • What is the trigger to bring the family together? (i.e. high fire danger days)
  • What is the plan for teens who are home alone?
  • What if the car is not available?

• If members of the household have emergency service commitments, can others in the household evacuate without them?
• Are there changes in mobility that need to be considered? (i.e. a broken leg, or a car needing repairs)

Your animals

It is the responsibility of all individuals to have a plan for their animals during an emergency.

This includes pets and livestock. Relying on a relief centre to accommodate pets or livestock is not sufficient.

More information on planning for an emergency with pets can be found here

Planning with horses and livestock can be found here

Other people you care for

Your plan should include others you care for who may not live with you. This may include elderly or young family members or friends. It's important to have a conversation with these people about what their plan is. You may need to have a copy of it, have emergency alerts set up for their location or physically assist with moving them to a safer location. 

Your neighbours

Knowing what your neighbours plan is prior to an emergency means that you'll know of any assistance they may require, or be able to offer. Letting your neighbours know what your trigger to leave is, and when you have left can save valuable time in an emergency. Red Cross offers more information about why this is important and how you can build this connection. 

Others in the community 

Many in our community may need assistance creating or activating a plan. It is important that communities work together to provide this support as emergency agencies do not have the capacity to assist individuals.

Consider people in your community who may:

• live alone
• have limited transportation
• be very young or elderly
• live with a disability
• have a temporary impairment 
• be social isolated
• be new to the area

It's important to check in with these people and asking how you might be able to help them create or activate their emergency plan. This is part of [Shared Responsibility]