Are you Ready?

Each household should have a plan of exactly what to do in the event of an emergency and display it somewhere visible to everyone.

Click below to download a plan for your household:

Household Emergency Plan (1 page, 30kb)

Households should also make the following simple preparations:

• ensure everyone in the house knows where to turn off the mains for electricity, water and gas
• learn First Aid
• have emergency survival items and a getaway kit easily accessible to everyone
• know where your nearest Civil Defence Welfare Centre is located
• join a Neighbourhood Support Group.

Emergency Survival Kit

The basic items to keep in your home for an Emergency Survival Kit are:

• water to last everyone for three days: three litres per person per day
• food to last for three days
• torch
• transistor radio
• spare batteries for torch and radio
• First Aid Kit a means of cooking food such as a BBQ, portable cooker, open fire, as well as a fuel supply
• candles matches and/or lighters
• toilet paper.

Click below to download a more detailed checklist to make sure you have a full supply of survival items in your home:

Household Emergency Checklist (1 page, 38kb).

You don't have to keep all these items stored together in a box or backpack, but keep a checklist to use as a reference guide to ensure your home has stocks of these items at all times. Make sure everyone knows where to find them if an emergency occurs.

Remember that tinned items and water need to be checked and changed every twelve months. Batteries should be checked every three months.

Getaway Kit

Many of us in Kapiti live in areas at risk from flooding, fires, storm or wind exposure, coastal erosion, hazardous substances, etc.

If you have to evacuate your home due to a disaster of whatever kind, it's important to have a Getaway Kit organised and able to be gathered quickly. All items, expecially blankets and clothing, should be put into leak proof plastic bags.

Your family’s Getaway Kit should include:

• all the Survival Items listed above
• any special medical and/or dietary needs: prescription drugs, inhalers, etc.
• toiletries, including feminine needs
• baby needs
• change of clothing, including warm and waterproof clothes
• strong footwear
• bedding: sleeping bags, blankets, etc.
• legal documents and important papers: birth, marriage, insurance certificates, passports, family photos, etc. list of contact details of family and close friends
• games for children to play.

Pets

When you prepare your household emergency plan make sure you include your pets. Think about:

• are they going with you?
• how will they be transported?
• will they be welcome at the place you are evacuating your family to?
• do you have the addresses of out-of-district kennels and catteries where they can be safely kept while you sort out your family situation?
• do you have adequate food supplies for them?

In an extreme emergency do not try and rescue pets.