TL;DR: Know your local hazards, get emergency alerts, know where to evacuate, and practice a written family plan, according to Ready.gov.
What Ready.gov Says to Do First
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, start by learning what disasters and hazards could affect your area, learning how to get emergency alerts, and deciding where you would go if you and your family need to evacuate.
That same source directs households to make sure the family has a plan and practices it often.
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, your family may not be together if a disaster strikes, so it is important to know which types of disasters could affect your area.
That planning source directs households to know how they will contact one another and reconnect if separated, and to establish a family meeting place that is familiar and easy to find.
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, households can download the FEMA App to get preparedness strategies and real-time weather and emergency alerts.
The planning page also frames preparation in three linked actions: know your risks, make a communications plan, and prepare for both evacuating and sheltering.
Know Your Risks by Location
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, the first task is to know what disasters and hazards could affect your area.
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, households should identify which types of disasters could affect their area before a disaster strikes.
The Ready.gov home page message summarized in search results reinforces the same point for severe weather, stating that severe weather can happen anytime and households should know their risks and plan ahead.
For hurricanes, that home page message directs households to prepare now, to know where to go if asked to evacuate quickly, and to know how they and their family will get there.
For flooding, the message states the protective rule for a flooded road or walkway: turn around, don't drown.
For power outages, the message directs households to have alternative charging methods for a phone in case of power outages.
For earthquakes, the message teaches Drop. Cover. Hold On. as the way to protect yourself and loved ones before, during, and after an earthquake, ahead of the Great ShakeOut drill on October 15.
For fire risk, the message points to National Fire Prevention Week and directs households to plan ahead to prevent fires before they happen.
These location-specific risks determine shelter decisions, evacuation routes, meeting places, and supplies, which is why both Ready.gov planning sources place risk review before writing the plan.
Get Alerts and Warnings
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, households should learn how to get emergency alerts.
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, the first planning question is: How will I receive emergency alerts and warnings?
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, the Know Your Alerts and Warnings guide outlines the U.S. alert and warning systems and the information you can expect to receive from each source.
That page also describes A Guide for Alerts and Warnings, which explains what to do when you get a hazard alert at home or in the car, with information about 17 hazards, their alerts, and the protective actions you can take to stay safe.
Wireless emergency alerts allow officials to provide the public with life-saving information quickly, according to the Ready.gov home page message.
The FEMA App is presented as one delivery path for real-time weather and emergency alerts, according to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov.
The practical household step is to decide now who monitors alerts, which devices receive them, and how alerts reach every member during work, school, travel, and overnight hours.
Households that answer the alerts question in writing avoid confusion about where updates come from and what information each source provides.
Make a Written Family Plan
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, households build the plan by meeting with family, friends, or household members and discussing five starting questions.
Those questions are: How will I receive emergency alerts and warnings, what is my shelter plan, what is my evacuation route, what is my family and household communication plan, and do I need to update my emergency preparedness kit.
The shelter question covers where to stay in place, while the evacuation-route question covers where to go if you and your family need to evacuate.
The communication-plan question covers how members contact one another and reconnect if separated.
The kit question links the written plan to supplies, so the kit reflects the shelter plan, evacuation route, and communication plan.
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, households document the plan by creating a family emergency plan with a fillable form.
That form is designed to capture household information, names and contacts of family members, meeting places, and medical information.
The page also offers a Family Communication Plan Fillable Card, an Emergency Plan for Commuters, and guidance for pet owners.
Documenting names, contacts, meeting places, and medical information in one place makes the plan usable when members are separated and cannot rely on memory or a phone contact list.
Fit the Plan to Your Household
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, households customize plans and supplies to specific daily living needs and responsibilities.
That source directs households to discuss how people in their network can assist each other with communication, care of children, business, pets, or other needs.
The factors to consider include different ages of members within the household and responsibilities for assisting others.
They also include locations visited frequently and households with school-aged children.
They also include dietary needs and medical needs including prescriptions and equipment.
They also include disabilities or access and functional needs including devices and equipment.
They also include languages spoken and cultural and religious considerations.
They also include pets or service animals.
This tailoring step is where a generic plan becomes a household plan, with supplies, contacts, meeting places, and assistance roles matched to daily routines.
Households with school-aged children coordinate pickup, meeting places, and communication if a disaster strikes during school hours.
Households with medical needs align prescriptions, equipment, devices, and medical information in the written plan with the shelter and evacuation choices.
Households with pets or service animals align care, transport, and supplies with the shelter plan and evacuation route.
Use Ready.gov Hazard Sheets and Guides
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, two-sided Hazard Information Sheets explain how to prepare for, keep safe during, and respond to hazards.
Individual sheets in English are listed for Active Shooter, Avalanche, Cyberattack, Earthquake, Extreme Heat, Financial Emergency, Flood, Hurricane, Landslide, Novel Pandemic, Power Outage, Thunderstorm, Lightning, and Hail, Tornado, Tsunami, Volcano, Wildfire, and Winter Storm.
Information sheets in additional languages are listed for Active Shooter, Avalanche, Cyberattack, Earthquake, Extreme Heat, Flood, Hurricane, Landslide, Novel Pandemic, Power Outage, Thunderstorm, Lightning, and Hail, Tornado, Tsunami, Volcano, Wildfire, and Winter Storm.
According to that same source, the Are You Ready? Guide provides detailed information on how best to prepare for disasters within families and communities, with general disaster preparedness tips and best practices to inform planning.
The page also lists 12 Ways to Prepare, described as a 9-inch by 6-inch cardstock postcard that describes 12 key ways to prepare for disasters, with space to add a USPS mailing sticker on the back to send to community members.
Households can use one hazard sheet at a time to connect local risk, alerts, shelter, evacuation, and supplies for that hazard.
Community members can use the postcard format to share the same 12 preparation steps with neighbors.
Protect Documents, Property, and Finances
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, disasters are a matter of when, not if, and households prepare by documenting property and ensuring needed insurance coverage.
The Document and Insure Your Property resource is presented for that purpose.
According to the same source, the Safeguard Critical Documents and Valuables guide includes a checklist to help prepare documents should households need to file an insurance claim after a disaster.
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, related resources include Save Important Documents to the Cloud graphics, Tips for Medications graphics, Low and No Cost Preparedness graphics, an Emergency Financial First Aid Kit, and a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Disaster Checklist.
The practical sequence is to document property condition, safeguard critical documents and valuables, confirm insurance coverage, and store copies where they remain reachable during evacuation or sheltering.
Filing an insurance claim after a disaster depends on having documents, property records, medical information, and contacts already organized.
Practice, Maintain, and Share the Plan
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, households practice the plan with their household after documenting it.
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, families both make a plan and practice it often.
Practice tests the shelter plan, evacuation route, meeting place, and family and household communication plan under realistic constraints.
It also tests whether alerts reach everyone, whether contacts are current, whether medical information is complete, and whether the emergency preparedness kit needs an update.
According to Make A Plan | Ready.gov, the kit-update question is part of the initial family discussion, not an afterthought.
According to Disasters and Emergencies | Ready.gov, the Build a Kit message directs households to make sure the emergency kit is stocked with the right items.
The Make a Plan Form provides the written place to record updates after each practice.
Sharing the 12 Ways to Prepare postcard, reviewing the alerts guides, and revisiting the hazard sheets keep the household plan aligned with changing addresses, schools, workplaces, medical needs, pets, languages, and local hazards.