Preparing for major
emergencies
Do you know what to do in an
emergency? What would you do if you could not get into your home
for several hours? Or even days?
What is an
emergency?
Sometimes something out of the ordinary can happen to us. It may
only affect us or our immediate family, but it can disrupt our
daily lives and cause us problems.
Sometimes things can go wrong on a bigger scale, affecting the
building or area in which we live and cause problems to our whole
family and neighbourhood.
If special arrangements are needed to deal with the problem, the
situation is then classed as a major emergency. For example:
- Incidents that affect public safety (terrorism, major
crime)
- Serious transport incidents (tanker crash, train crash, plane
crash)
- Extreme weather (flooding, storms)
- Infectious disease outbreak
An emergency can happen at any time and will often take people by
surprise. The best way of dealing with any type of emergency is to
be prepared.
Ask yourself these questions;
- What would stop me from being able to get into my home for any
length of time?
- What if something happened to my home that made it difficult to
stay there?
- What would I need if I wasn't able to get into my home for
three or four days?
- Do my family know what to do in an emergency?
What should I
do?
- Ensure that everyone in your family knows what to do.
- Follow instructions given to you by the Emergency
Services.
- Pick two meeting points, one near your home, and one away from
your area.
- If people get lost or can not make contact with other family
members, then make prior arrangements to meet at one of the
points.
- Listen to the radio or television for updated information.
- Chose a friend or relative who lives outside London who you can
each phone to let them know that you are okay. Make sure that
everyone in the family always has that number with them.
- Keep away from your home until you are told by the Emergency
Services that it is safe to return.
- Keep a Grab Bag handy.
Ideas for a 'Grab Bag'
A Grab Bag contains some of the things that will help you to
survive in or outside your home during an emergency.
You may want to take all or some of the things mentioned in the
list below:
- Home and car keys
- Mobile phone with charger
- Money and bank cards
- Essential medicines/mobility aids
- Important documents, including Insurance, Passport,
birth/marriage certificates etc
- First Aid Kit
- Identification
- Emergency phone numbers - Including Schools, work, family
- Basic toiletries
- Torch with batteries or wind up torch
- Radio with batteries or wind up radio
- Bottled water and "easy" food (tinned food/biscuits etc)
- Items for children - formula/nappies/small toys etc
Useful phone
numbers
Environment Agency Floodline - 0845 988
1188
NHS Direct - 0845
4647
Newham Council - 020 8430
2000