In this next part of week two, we need to figure out our plan for sheltering:
What is my shelter plan?
The Ready.gov site advises us to consider where to take shelter if we receive a warning or believe we are threatened with an emergency. The local plan we looked up last week might have listed some local shelters. These would be important to know if we cannot shelter in place in our homes or businesses. In making our own plan, we need to consider each specific risk we may face, then decide the best place to take shelter during that disaster. During some hazardous events, such as a tornado, the best place to shelter may be our home if we have either a basement or tornado safe room in our house. But if we live in a home with no basement or shelter, the best place to go might be a nearby community tornado safe room. It might also be in an interior room if there is no nearby shelter.
As an example of shelters provided by an agency, the city of Chicago offers warming and cooling centers during periods of extreme cold and heat. They encourage residents to register to receive warning alerts and then text 3-1-1 to find the location of shelters near them.
Remember the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) app will list open shelters in your area during an active disaster. So make sure to add in your plan to verify on your app during the disaster that the shelter you plan to go to is open. Also, if you have pets, call ahead now, if possible, to the entity managing the designated shelter to see if pets are allowed and note this in your plan.
You can find additional sheltering tips at the Ready.gov Shelter site.
So that’s it for day two – know where shelters might be available in your area during a disaster, decide in what circumstances you may need to shelter and where, and understand how to find what shelters may be available or set up during a disaster.
As a side note, throughout this series of posts about getting prepared, I may mention certain products, services, agencies, etc. At no time is it my intention to promote a specific product or service or agency. Each is mentioned only for informational purposes. Of course as a government employee, I do receive a salary from the government for the time I work on my job, but I don’t receive any compensation from any commercial entities I mention or include in these posts.ha
