The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA as most of us know them, knows all about emergency preparedness and they have put together some great emergency Checklists. They are, however, not all in one place, so here are all the current ones.

General Emergency Checklists

These first two lists are just basic lists of things to consider for an emergency. The kids version is designed to get your kids on board with the planning process. If nothing else, it gets you thinking about options or alternatives. Remember, FEMA recommends 72 hours or 3 days while we recommend 2-3 weeks minimum for sheltering in place.

Family Communication Plan Checklist

This could be the most important document on this page. It’s important to have a plan for everyone on where to meet and who to contact in an emergency. As a family, you will not always be together. Kids could be at a friends or school and a spouse may be shopping, the office or where ever. Having a plan in place so all of you know where to go or who to call helps to eliminate the stress of the situation and gets you all together faster and safer. Even if you don’t use this form, you can use it as a guide to create your own.

Home Fire Escape Plan

This is one of those things we never think about. Just having a plan in place for this is important. It doesn’t take long to draw a basic floor plan of your home and draw out the safest paths or plans in the event of a fire. At the minimum, draw a plan for when you are all asleep as this is when you are all the most vulnerable. While sleeping, the potential for the fire to be raging worse than if you were all awake.

We have a small upstairs in our home where our bedrooms are and each of us have a fire ladder we can use to get out of the house.

General Emergency Information Checklists

The rest of the documents contain additional information on planning. Things like pet considerations or what do think about if you have disabilities or are elderly and have mobility issues. A lot of these documents simply get you thinking about what you should be doing to protect you and your family.

Checklist Conclusions

These checklists should not be considered the final word in preparation. They are, however, great places to start, but it is not necessary to have every item on the list. Likewise, don’t worry about adding items that are not even mentioned. The real goal of these are to get you thinking and planning ahead for situations to meet the needs of you and your family.