- Developing a disaster plan. Find out which calamities could happen in your leaving or working area. Do not stop once creating a plan of actions for each particular hazard but regularly practice it as well. Try playing family disaster charade or quiz and make sure everyone (especially kids) knows the safest place in the house regarding each particular threat; and the proper way to evacuate the building ASAP if it becomes necessary. Make sure your kids know how to call 911. It is important for all your family members to know how to shut off the utilities. However, do not turn off natural gas line unless it is specifically instructed to do so by authorities. Special attention needs to be paid to arranging “in state” and “out of area” contact person. It is a necessary precaution for your family members if they get separated during or after calamity. It would be a good idea to create a schedule dividing a responsibility of staying on local radio or TV station. Evacuation orders usually come from local government officials. So it is extremely important to get them in time as the safe escape routes may be closed or impassable if you wait too long to leave. Even if conditions may not seem too bad at first, never ignore an evacuation order. The idea is to plan in advance where and how will you evacuate in disaster strikes. So you might want to check with government agents if some sort of disaster scenario has already been develop for your area and make it your starting point. It would be good ideas to test at least few of your escape routes, making sure you feel comfortable working with a map instead of GPS. Make sure you have far more then one escape alternative, in such manner during and after disaster you could easily change your survival strategy based on particular circumstances.