Be Ready for the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season

Plans and kits should be customized for individual needs and responsibilities based on the methods of communication, types of shelter and methods of transportation available. Other factors to keep in mind include:

• The number of household members, as well as their ages;
• Responsibilities for assisting others;
• Dietary needs;
• Medical needs, including prescriptions and equipment;
• Disabilities or access and functional needs including devices and equipment;
• Languages;
• Cultural and religious considerations; and
• Pets or service animals.

In planning for emergencies, all of these individual differences make it important for every household and individual to consider what they need to have in their plans and supplies. A few examples:

• Households with children in school should understand their school’s plans for sheltering, and know where their children will be safe until it is safe for adults in the household to pick them up. 
• Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing should make sure that they can receive emergency alerts and warnings in an accessible form
• Individuals who require accessible transportation should work with their local para-transit and disability service providers to make an emergency plan.
• People who speak languages other than English may need to identify sources of alerts and warnings and information about community plans in other languages.
• People without vehicles should know local plans for public transportation and may need to make arrangements for transportation from local government, organizations or others.
• Households with infants should plan for food and supplies for infants and nursing mothers.
• People with dietary needs should have an adequate emergency food supply to meet their needs.
• People who take medications should maintain an adequate supply, and copies of their prescriptions.
• People with service animals should work with local emergency management to ensure that their service dog will be admitted to shelters with them during emergencies (as required by law) and should make sure their plan kit supplies include food and other items for their service animal.
• People who require power for medical or other assistive devices should consider how they will maintain the use of these devices if there is a loss of power. Keep extra batteries for small devices (hearing aids, cell phones for example) and consider obtaining and learning how to use a generator for home use and carrying a charger when away from home, especially when loss of power may jeopardize health or safety.