Working together with your neighbors when disaster strikes can save lives and property. Include disaster preparedness as an activity for your Neighborhood Watch group to undertake. Discuss how the neighborhood could work together after a disaster until help arrives and develop a disaster preparedness plan for your neighborhood.

Include:

• Neighborhood Inventory - How can your neighborhood tap its resources to help everyone cope? Identify your neighbors' special skills (e.g., medical, technical, construction skills) and look at what equipment and shelter would be needed.
   
• Those With Special Needs - Who in your neighborhood would need special assistance in a disaster? The lives of children, elderly and disabled persons may rely on your help. Make a plan everyone knows about for children in case neighborhood parents can't get home.
   
• Download this Easy to Use Disaster Preparedness Worksheet

Remember ... If Disaster Strikes

• Remain calm and patient. Put your plan into action.
• Check for injuries. Give first aid and get help for seriously injured people.
• Listen to your battery powered radio for news and instructions.  ALWAYS Evacuate, if advised to do so.
• Never use candles or open flame to provide you with a source of light.  Broken natural gas supply lines and the presence of fire puts everyone at risk of explosion.  Always remember to use flashlights.

Are You Prepared For An Unexpected Emergency?

Tornadoes

• FEMA Fact Sheet: Tornadoes
• FEMA Backgrounder: Tornadoes
• Red Cross Disaster Safety: Tornadoes

Fire

• Install smoke detectors (check them once a month and change the batteries at least twice a year).
• Make sure all family members know what to do in a fire. Draw a floor plan with at least two ways of escaping every room and practice twice a year. Choose a safe meeting place outside the house.
• Call 911 from outside the house immediately.
• Learn to Stop, Drop, and Roll if clothes catch fire. Use the stairs (not elevators) to escape. If possible, cover mouth with a cloth to avoid inhaling smoke and gases. Close doors in each room after escaping to delay the spread of the fire.
• FEMA Fact Sheet: House and Building Fires
• FEMA Fire Safety Fact Sheets
• Red Cross Disaster Safety: Fires

Thunderstorms

• FEMA Fact Sheet: Thunderstorms and Lightning
• FEMA Backgrounder: Thunderstorms and Lightning
• Red Cross Disaster Safety: Severe Thunderstorms

Winter Storms

• FEMA Fact Sheet: Winter Storms
• FEMA Fact Sheet: Winter Driving

Floods

• Indoors - Turn on battery-operated radio or television to get the latest emergency information. Get your pre-assembled emergency supplies. If told by the authorities to leave, do so immediately.
• Outdoors - Climb to high ground and stay there. Avoid walking through any floodwaters. If it is moving swiftly, even water 6 inches deep can sweep you off your feet.
• In a car – If you come to a flooded area, turn around and use an alternate route. If your car stalls, abandon it immediately and climb to higher ground. Many deaths have resulted from attempts to move stalled vehicles.
• FEMA Fact Sheet: Floods And Flash Floods
• FEMA Backgrounder: Floods And Flash Floods
• Red Cross Disaster Safety: Floods and Flash Floods

Hazardous Materials Accident

• If caught at the scene of an accident - Move away from the accident scene and help keep others away. Do not walk into or touch any of the spilled substance. Try not to inhale gases, fumes or smoke. If possible, cover mouth with a cloth while leaving the area. Stay away from accident victims until authorities have identified the hazardous materials as safe. Try to stay upstream, uphill and upwind of the accident.
• FEMA Fact Sheet: Hazardous Materials Accidents
• FEMA Backgrounder: Hazardous Materials
• Red Cross Disaster Safety: Chemical Emergencies
• 2000 Emergency Response Guidebook for first responders

Terrorism

• Prepare to deal with a terrorist incident by adapting many of the same techniques used to prepare for other crises.
• Be alert and aware of the surrounding area. The very nature of terrorism suggests that there may be little or no warning.
• Take precautions when traveling.
• Be aware of conspicuous or unusual behavior. Do not accept packages from strangers.
• Do not leave luggage unattended.
• Learn where emergency exits are located.
• In an unfamiliar building be aware of your immediate surroundings including your closest exits.
• Be aware of heavy or breakable objects that could move, fall or break in an explosion.
• People who live or work in a multi-level building can do the following: Review emergency evacuation procedures and know where fire exits are located.
• Create an emergency communications plan with an out-of-town family member or friend that will be unlikely to be affected by the same emergency.
• ready.gov - From the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• whitehouse.gov - Homeland Security
• whitehouse.gov - Homeland Security: Are You Ready?
• FEMA Fact Sheet: Terrorism
• FEMA Backgrounder: Terrorism
• Red Cross Disaster Safety: Terrorism
• Center for Disease Control: Public Health Emergencies

Evacuation

• Authorities will determine if evacuation is necessary based on the type and duration of the incident. Other considerations are the length of time it should take to evacuate the area, weather conditions, and the time of day.
• If evacuated: Stay tuned to a radio or television for information on evacuation routes, temporary shelters, and other procedures. Follow the routes recommended by the authorities--shortcuts may not be safe.
• Shelters: Temporary shelters are schools, churches and other places of public assembly that are utilized during incidents requiring citizens to be evacuated from a specific area of The City of Franklin or Williamson County. Tune to radio and television for information on the nearest open shelter to your location. If radio and television communications are disrupted, local emergency personnel will direct you as needed.
• Take pre-assembled emergency supplies.
• Remember to help your neighbors who may require special assistance such as infants, elderly people and people with disabilities.
• Plan to take your pets with you; do not leave them behind. Because pets are not permitted in public shelters, follow your plan to go to a relative or friend’s home, or find a location that will allow pets.

Sheltering In-Place

• If asked to stay indoors ("In-Place Sheltering"), seal your house so contaminants cannot enter. Close and lock windows and doors. Seal gaps under doorways and windows with wet towels and duct tape. Seal gaps around window and air conditioning units, bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans, and stove and dryer vents with duct tape and plastic sheeting, wax paper or aluminum wrap.
• Close fireplace dampers. Close off nonessential rooms such as storage areas, laundry rooms and extra bedrooms.
• Turn off ventilation systems.