Where will you be.....

Where will you be if a natural disaster strikes?

Who knows where you would be.  Nobody knows. You could be at work, at the gym, at the movies, at the beach, in a bus, asleep at night in bed and the list goes on.  The likelihood that you will be at home at the time is anyones guess, but what would you do if you were away from home at the time disaster strikes?

All workplaces have evacuation procedures in place and everyone should be confident in explaining how to evacuate the building immediately down or up the stairs, depending on your circumstances.  And remember - if you evacuate the building down the stairs in a single-file, 'apparently' it's faster and more effective than if you all went scrambling down at once.  I remember recently during a fire drill at my workplace, getting annoyed at people chatting and catching up on the way down.  Not the time and place and it really slowed the whole process down.  Though I'm sure this wouldn't be the case if it was a real emergency and we truly did need to run for our dear lives.

So my question is, have you got a plan for your family if you were not with them?  

Have you arranged to check in with each other immediately after a natural disaster by text or phone to confirm who is where?  Do you make your way home to your family or do you stay put? I guess you would assess each situation at the time and decide whatever is appropriate and safe. If your children were at school, does the school have a designated person to contact to find out about your kids? I'm certain all schools have emergency plans in place, but it might pay to find out exactly what their procedures are. Maybe even have your child's teacher's mobile phone number, but only for code red emergencies. Communication is key. So make sure your mobile phone is always charged and that you always have your phone charger with you.

These are all things we would never normally think about or even ask, but may make all the difference if disaster strikes.  

By planning and making a little effort,  we don't expel PANIC completely, but are attempting to try to reduce and manage a natural state of panic if and when disaster strikes.