Information
CHILDREN
- Include your children in family discussions and planning for emergency safety.
- Teach your children their basic personal information so they can identify themselves and get help if they become separated from a parent or guardian.
- Prepare an emergency card with information for each child, including his/her full name, address, phone number, parent’s work number.
- Know the policies of the school or daycare center your children attend. Make plans to have someone pick them up if you are unable to get to them.
- Regularly update your child’s school with current emergency contact information and persons authorized to pick up your child from school.
- Make sure each child knows the family’s alternate meeting sites if you are separated in a disaster and cannot return to your home.
- Make sure each child knows how to reach your family’s out-of-city contact person.
- Teach children to dial their home telephone number.
- Teach children what gas smells like and advise them to tell an adult if they smell gas after an emergency.
- Warn children never to touch wires on poles or lying on the ground.
- Role-play with children to help them remain calm in emergencies and to practice basic emergency responses such as evacuation routes, Drop, Cover & Hold and Stop, Drop & Roll.
- Role-play with children as to what they should do if a parent is suddenly sick or injured.
COMMUNITY
There will be a number of emergency services who will be asking for blood donation, if you are well and healthy, do so.
Set up your own ‘Neighborhood Watch’ as chances of looting is high.
Get to know your neighbors. Find out if anyone has specialized equipment, like a power generator or expertise such as medical knowledge that might help in a crisis. Make arrangements to check on your neighbor’s home if one of you is away when a disaster strikes.
FOOD
If a big earthquake happens here, the chances are that you might not have access to food, water and electricity for days, or even weeks. Store enough emergency food to provide for your family for at least 7 days.
- Store food items that are familiar, rather than buying special emergency food. Consider any dietary restrictions and preferences you may have.
- Ideal foods are: Shelf-stable (no refrigeration required), low in salt, and do not require cooking (e.g. canned food, beaten rice, ready to eat cereals like granola
- Mark a rotation date on any food container that does not already have an expiration date on the package.
- Include baby food and formula or other diet items for infants or seniors.
- Store the food in airtight, pest-resistant containers in a cool, dark place.
- Most canned foods can safely be stored for at least 18 months. Low acid foods like meat products, fruits or vegetables will normally last at least 2 years. Use dry products, like boxed cereal, crackers, cookies, dried milk or dried fruit within six months.
HOME SAFETY
During an earthquake, ordinary objects in your home can cause injury or damage. However, there are simple steps you can take to make your home safer. Start by viewing each room with a “disaster eye” and identify potential hazards – bookshelves that could tip over in an earthquake and block exits or heavy objects that could fall and cause injury.
- Move beds away from windows.
- Move mirrors and heavy pictures away from couches or places where people sit.
- Clear hallways and exits for easy evacuation.
- Store heavy items on the lowest shelves.
- Keep a fire extinguishers on each level and know how and when to use them.
- Secure pictures and wall hangings and use restraints to secure heavy items such as bookcases and file cabinets.
- Ensure that all window safety bars have emergency releases.
PETS
- Remember that animals react differently under stress. Keep dogs securely leashed and transport cats in carriers or pillowcases.
- Locate all your animals and keep them with you. Be aware that emergency shelters will not allow only allow animals. If you must leave your pets behind:.
- Leave plenty of water in a large, open container that cannot be tipped over.
- Leave plenty of food.
- Do not tie up your pet in your home.
PHONE
Plan for how you will communicate with loved ones after a disaster.
- Long-distance phone lines often work before local phone lines, so identify an out-of-state contact and provide this person with the contact information of people you want to keep informed of your situation. Share this information with your family and friends locally.
- If it is safe, go to the nearest Nepal Telecom Office to enquire on possibilities of phone communication.
- Avoid making non-urgent phone calls after a disaster – even if phone lines are un-damaged, increased phone traffic can jam phone circuits.
- Don’t count on your cell phone - increased traffic on cell phone networks can quickly overload wireless capacity. Since electricity will probably be knocked out, mobile phones will not work.
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SENIORS AND DISABLED
- Set up a Personal Support Network: Designate someone to check on you in an emergency and to help with evacuation or sheltering-in-place.
- Prepare and carry with you an emergency health information card: This will help you to communicate if you are found unconscious or incoherent. Include information about your medications, adaptive equipment, blood type, allergies and sensitivities,
- For Persons who are Blind or Visually Impaired: Keep an extra cane by your bed. Attach a whistle; in case you need to attract attention. Exercise caution when moving, paths may have become obstructed.
- For Persons who are Hearing Impaired: Keep extra batteries for your hearing aids with emergency supplies. Consider storing your hearing aids in a container attached to your nightstand or bedpost, so you can locate them quickly after a disaster.
- For persons with Communication Disabilities: Store paper, writing materials, copies of a word or letter board and preprinted key phrases in your emergency kit, your wallet, purse, etc.
WATER
In a disaster, water supplies may be cut off or contaminated. Store enough water for everyone in your family to last for at least 7 days.
- Store four liters of water per person, per day. Twelve liters per person per day will give you enough to drink and for limited cooking and personal hygiene. Remember to plan for pets.
If you store tap water:
- Tap water from a municipal water system can be safely stored with additional treatment.
- Store water in food grade plastic containers, such as clean 2-liter soft drink bottles or 20 liter water jars. H
- Label and store in a cool, dark place.
- Replace water at least once every six months.
If you buy commercially bottled “drinking” water:
- Keep water in its original container, and don’t re-store a bottle once it’s been opened.
- Store in a cool, dark place.
- If bottles are not marked with the manufacturer’s expiration date, label with the date and replace bottles at least once per year.
Treating Water after Disaster:
Bleaching powder is the cheapest and most effective way of treating water. Depending on where you get your water from, a small amount of bleaching powder makes the water safe for drinking purposes. If water contains particles or dirt in it keep a cloth handy for straining. Eight drops of bleach per five liters of water is adequate. Let it stand for half an hour before consumption.
Make sure you are using regular bleach— 5.25% percent sodium hypochlorite— rather than the “ultra” or “color safe” bleaches. Shake or stir, then let stand 30 minutes. A slight chlorine taste and smell is normal.
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