Where should our family meet after an emergency?

Pick two spots. One right outside your home for a fire, and one out of the neighborhood, like a library or a friend's house, for when you cannot get home.

Is there a free family emergency plan template?

Yes. Ready.gov has a free fillable Make a Plan form with spaces for household info, contacts, meeting places and medical needs.

How to Make a Family Emergency Plan

Q: What should be in a family emergency plan?

FEMA Ready.gov says to cover how you get alerts, where you shelter, how you evacuate, how you reach each other, and what your kit needs. Add meeting places and medical details.

A family emergency plan is a written answer to three questions. Where will we meet? Who will we call? What does each person do first?

You can write one in about 30 minutes at the kitchen table. FEMA Ready.gov has a free Make a Plan form you can fill in and print.

Why bother? Because in a storm or a fire, nobody thinks clearly. A plan means you do not have to. You just follow the steps you already agreed on.

What Should Be in a Family Emergency Plan?

A good home plan covers four things: how you get alerts, where you shelter, how you would leave, and how you reach each other. Write it down, give a copy to every person in the house, and practice it twice a year.

Ready.gov asks every household to talk through five questions first:

How will I get emergency alerts and warnings?
What is my shelter plan?
What is my evacuation route?
What is my family communication plan?
Do I need to update my emergency kit?

Answer those five and you have a plan. Here is how to fill in each one.

Pick Two Meeting Places

Where do you go when you cannot stay put? Pick your spots now, while it is calm. The Ready.gov form has a blank for meeting places, so this is the first one to fill.

One spot near home

Choose a spot right outside, like the big tree or the mailbox across the street. This is for a fire or a gas smell. Everyone walks out and gathers there. Nobody goes back inside.

One spot out of the neighborhood

Now pick a second spot farther away. A library, a school or a friend’s house all work. This is where you go when you cannot get home at all.

Write both addresses on paper. Do not keep them only in your phone. Phones die.

Choose One Out-of-Town Contact

Who does everyone check in with? Pick one person who lives far away. A cousin two states over is perfect. One contact outside the trouble gives the whole house a single place to report in.

That person keeps track of who is safe. It saves you from calling six people while your battery drains.

Should you call or text? Text. FEMA says to use text messages instead of phone calls, because phone systems are often overloaded or damaged after a disaster. A short text is more likely to get through. Save calls for real emergencies so first responders can use the network.

How Will You Get Alerts?

How will you know something is coming? Ready.gov points to three systems:

Wireless Emergency Alerts. Short alerts sent to phones in a target area. They look like texts but come with a loud tone. You do not sign up, and you are not charged.
The Emergency Alert System. Warnings sent out over TV, radio, cable and satellite.
NOAA Weather Radio. A network of stations that carries weather warnings all day and night.

Check your phone settings and make sure alerts are turned on. Then add a battery or hand-crank radio to your 72-hour home emergency checklist. When the power is out, a radio still talks.

Plan How You Would Leave

What if you have to go? Ready.gov says to pick several places you could go, like a friend’s home in another town or a motel. Pick spots in different directions, so one blocked road does not trap you.

Fit the Plan to Your Household

Is a plan the same for every family? No. Ready.gov says to shape yours around the people in it. Talk through:

The ages of everyone at home
Anyone you help care for
Places you go often, like work and school
Food needs and allergies
Medicine and medical equipment
Disabilities and access needs
Languages spoken at home
Pets or service animals
Who picks up the kids from school

Write the answers down. If someone needs power for medical gear, ask their doctor and your power company about a plan now, not later.

Your supplies are part of this too. Check how much water to store for an emergency so you know your target. Then use our guide to build a 2-week emergency pantry on a budget and stock food a few dollars at a time.

Write It Down and Hand Out Cards

A plan in your head is not a plan. Print your family emergency plan and put a copy in every backpack, wallet and glove box. Tape one inside a kitchen cupboard.

What goes on the card? Keep it short:

Both meeting places, with addresses
The out-of-town contact, with a phone number
Each person’s cell number
Work, school and daycare numbers
Doctor and pharmacy numbers
Insurance policy numbers
Where the kit and the go-bag live

Kids should carry a card too. A young child may not know a phone number by heart.

Practice Your Family Emergency Plan Twice a Year

Does practice really matter? Yes. The first run always shows a hole. Someone cannot find the flashlight. The side gate is locked. The cat hides.

Pick two dates you will remember, like the days the clocks change. Then run a 15-minute drill:

Walk to the meeting spot near home
Send a test text to the out-of-town contact
Have each person find the go-bag and the kit
Check flashlight and radio batteries
Update any number that changed
Print fresh cards

Use the same day to check your food and power items. Our guide to power outage food safety covers the fridge rules. The portable generator safety rules cover backup power before you need it.

Your Next Step

Tonight, take 20 minutes and fill in three blanks: the meeting spot near home, the spot out of the neighborhood, and the name and number of your out-of-town contact. Write them on an index card, make a copy for each person, and put one in every bag in the morning.