A kit tells you what you have. A plan tells everyone at home what to do. It matters most in the situations where you can't talk it through at the time: the network is down, you're at work and the children are at school, or you have ten minutes to leave. Poland's safety guide puts the plan near the top of its list, and the UK's Be Ready campaign offers a downloadable household plan. Here's how to make yours in one evening.
Step 1: write down your contacts
Seventeen of the 24 guides we compiled list important phone numbers on paper. A phone can run flat, be lost, or be useless without a network. On one sheet, write:
- Everyone in the household, with mobile and work numbers
- One contact outside your area, whom everyone can call to pass on messages
- Neighbours, and anyone you have agreed to check on
- Your doctor, pharmacy and vet
- The children's school or childcare
- Your electricity, water and gas companies, and the power-cut reporting number
- Your insurer and policy number
The UK also suggests adding emergency contacts and medical information to your phone's Medical ID or ICE entry, and checking that your child's school has your current numbers.
Step 2: choose two meeting points
Poland advises agreeing meeting places and times both near home and outside your town, in case family members are separated and can't reach each other. Slovakia asks families to agree where they'll meet and how they'll get in touch if mobile networks fail.
- Near home: somewhere you can walk to if you have to leave the house, such as a neighbour's door or a street corner.
- Outside your area: a relative's or friend's home, if you can't get back to your neighbourhood.
The UK suggests a meeting point that is easy to find and open to the public. Agree a time, too: "if we can't reach each other, we all go to the meeting point by 6 pm."
Step 3: plan your ways out
The UK suggests planning escape routes for fire and flooding and talking them through with everyone you live with, including children. Slovakia asks you to learn the evacuation routes in your town. Mark both on a paper map of your area. Six guides list one.
Write down how to turn off the gas, electricity and water, and where the switches and valves are. The UK says you'll need to do this if you leave because of flooding.
If you live in a country with public shelters, find the nearest one. Poland lists this in its ten-point preparedness list. Sweden suggests locating shelters near home, school and work.
Step 4: agree who does what
In a real emergency, people waste time doing the same job twice while another is forgotten. Decide in advance:
- Who picks up the children from school
- Who checks on an older relative or neighbour
- Who takes the grab bag, and who takes the pets
- Who turns off the gas, water and electricity
- What happens if the person responsible isn't home
Give children a role too. Poland suggests explaining what their role will be and practising it with them, because knowing what to do helps them feel safer.
Step 5: plan for anyone who needs extra help
The UK asks you to agree a backup plan for anyone who needs extra support, especially if they live alone. Sweden suggests including medicines and medical aids in the plan. Poland suggests an identification tag for children and older people with their name and a contact phone number. See our guide for older people and those living alone.
Step 6: keep it with your documents
Print the plan, or write it out, and keep it with copies of your documents. Nineteen guides list ID and document copies, ideally in a waterproof pouch. Put a second copy in your grab bag.
Step 7: practise and update
Poland asks households to update the plan regularly and practise it with everyone, including for evacuation and possible separation. Do it when you check your kit, twice a year: walk to the meeting point, test that everyone knows where the torch and radio are, and update numbers that have changed.
A one-page template
Your plan fits on a single sheet:
| Section | What to write |
|---|---|
| Household | Names, phone numbers, medical needs, medicines and doses |
| Out-of-area contact | Name and number |
| Meeting point 1 | Near home, and the time to go there |
| Meeting point 2 | Outside the area, and how to get there |
| Roles | Children, older relatives, pets, grab bag, utilities |
| Shut-offs | Where the gas, water and electricity switches are |
| Information | Radio frequencies, warning app, local authority website |
| Useful numbers | Emergency number 112, doctor, vet, utilities, insurer, school |
Information you'll rely on
A plan only works if you know when to use it. All 24 guides list a battery, solar or crank radio. Write the frequency of your public broadcaster on the plan. If phones fail, our guide to a mobile network outage explains what else to do.
Once the plan is done, our checklist takes care of the supplies.