Leadership: Household Plan
Household preparedness is the foundation of community resilience. When individual households are well-prepared, they reduce strain on community resources and contribute to neighborhood recovery efforts. These households have the ability to shelter in place effectively, assist vulnerable neighbors, and even contribute resources and skills to collective response efforts.
Effective household leadership synthesizes all preparation categories into a coordinated response plan. A designated household leader will prioritize resource allocation, coordinate care for vulnerable members, and make decisions about when to shelter in place, when to evacuate, and when to seek nearby community assistance.
This leader maintains communication protocols, manages rationing of supplies, and serves as the primary contact with neighborhood leadership structures. During extended emergencies, household leaders must balance self-sufficiency with community cooperation, knowing when to contribute household resources to collective efforts and when to maintain reserves for family safety.
Step 1. Designate one household leader or multiple household leaders with different responsibilities.
Step 2. Create a Meeting Places Plan for your household in case you are separated during a disaster. Include an outside the home meeting place for fire evacuations, an in the neighborhood meeting place, and an out of the community meeting place.
Step 3. Create a Communications Plan for your household. How will you communicate if you are separated? Include the technology necessary to support the plan. Make sure your plan includes an out-of-state contact, someone who will be easier to reach to share your status when local lines are down. Give everyone a list of all contacts. If there are children in the household, this plan should include a list of adults who have your permission to pick up the kids from school or after-school activities if you are unable to.
Step 4. Make copies of important documents and financial information. Keep hard copies on a thumb drive and on paper sealed in a plastic bag and store this in your go bag. Keep low-denomination cash on hand for emergencies.
Step 5. Get some training. At the Household Level, the following trainings are recommended:
Stop the Bleed
First Aid
CPR/AED
Step 6. Set up an annual plan to review your emergency supplies and replace soon-to-expire items.
Step 7. Once a year, practice your emergency plans with other household members.
Step 8. Follow our Household Level recommendations to make sure you are prepared in the following categories:
Water Filtering, Treatment, Purification, and Storage. Include enough water for pets and for hydration, sanitation, and hygiene.
Emergency Food.
Medical Supplies.
Communication Equipment.
Shelter and Warmth Equipment.
Safety Equipment, including, multi-purpose tools, fire extinguishers, flashlights, and personal protective equipment.
Important Documents.
Step 9. Make additional plans for vulnerable household members including the elderly, disabled, or medically dependent and pets.