A comprehensive personal emergency preparedness (PEP) plan should have three key components: Communications, evacuation points and security.

A communications plan is important because family members could be separated when an emergency strikes.  Recall that when terrorists killed thousands in New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, many people who worked in or around the World Trade Center could not get word to their families that they were safe, because call phone communications were temporarily cut off.

Families should identify a central location to call in case family members are separated when an emergency strikes.  Family members can agree in advance to call, say, Aunt Susie in a neighboring state, away from the danger zone, to leave word of their condition and whereabouts.

Families should also identify a couple of places to meet in case they are separated during an emergency-- a near-evacuation point and far-evacuation point. Say, for example, a hurricane or wildfire forces an entire community to evacuate during the week when the parents are at work and the children are at school.  Where and how will the family be reunited while the danger passes?  A personal emergency preparedness plan should identify at least 2 places to go.  It could be someplace as simple as a neighbor's house.  But if the emergency is more widespread and that neighbor's house is in the evacuation zone, there should be a plan B, like a regional shopping mall.

Families should also make sure their home and belongings are secure and safe during an evacuation.  If the home is in danger of flooding, move valuables to a higher place in the house.  If a hurricane or tornado is threatening, move valuables to a central room with no window or roof exposure.

You may be tempted to take valuable paintings with you when you evacuate, but those paintings are more likely to be damaged in transit than stowed away safely in the home.

To deter burglars who have ignored the evacuation order, lock all doors and windows, but leave house lights on so that emergency responders can find your home.  Leave the jewelry-- in a fireproof safe, if you have one-- but take important documents, like passports, medications and your laptop computer, especially if you have important financial data on it.

Permission was granted to display this information by Scott Spencer for his article in Best Review Feb. 2010.