CREATE YOUR FAMILY

EMERGENCY

COMMUNICATION PLAN

Creating your Family Emergency Communication Plan starts with one simple question: “What if?” 

“What if something happens and I’m not with my family?” “Will I be able to reach them?” “How will I know they 

are safe?” “How can I let them know I’m OK?” During a disaster, you will need to send and receive information 

from your family. 

Communication networks, such as mobile phones and computers, could be unreliable during disasters, and electricity 

could be disrupted. Planning in advance will help ensure that all the members of your household—including children 

and people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs, as well as outside caregivers—know how 

to reach each other and where to meet up in an emergency. Planning starts with three easy steps:

1. COLLECT.

Create a paper copy of the contact information for your family and other 

important people/offices, such as medical facilities, doctors, schools, or 

service providers.

2. SHARE.

Make sure everyone carries a copy in his or her backpack, purse, or 

wallet. If you complete your Family Emergency Communication Plan online 

at ready.gov/make-a-plan, you can print it onto a wallet-sized card. Yu 

should also post a copy in a central location in your home, such as your 

refrigerator or family bulletin board.

3. PRACTICE.

Have regular household meetings to review and practice your plan.

If you are using a mobile phone, a text message may get 

through when a phone call will not. This is because a text 

message requires far less bandwidth than a phone call. Text 

messages may also save and then send automatically as soon 

as capacity becomes available.

TEXT 

IS 

BEST!

FEMA P-1094/July 2018
2

The following sections will guide you through the process to create and practice your 

Family Emergency Communication Plan.

CO

INF

LLE

ORMATIO

C

N

T

HOUSEHOLD INFORMATION 

Write down phone numbers and email addresses for everyone in your household. 

Having this important information written down will help you reconnect with others 

in case you don’t have your mobile device or computer with you or if the battery 

runs down. If you have a household member(s) who is Deaf or hard of hearing, or 

who has a speech disability and uses traditional or video relay service (VRS), include 

information on how to connect through relay services on a landline phone, mobile 

device, or computer.

SCHOOL, CHILDCARE, CAREGIVER, AND WORKPLACE 

EMERGENCY PLANS

Because a disaster can strike during school or work hours, you need to know their 

emergency response plans and how to stay informed. Discuss these plans with 

children, and let them know who could pick them up in an emergency. Make sure 

your household members with phones are signed up for alerts and warnings from 

their school, workplace, and/or local government. To find out more about how to 

sign up, see Know Your Alerts and Warnings at ready.gov. For children without 

mobile phones, make sure they know to follow instructions from a responsible 

adult, such as a teacher or principal.

OUT-OF-TOWN CONTACT

It is also important to identify someone outside of your community or State who 

can act as a central point of contact to help your household reconnect. In a disaster, 

it may be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town 

because local phone lines can be jammed.

EMERGENCY MEETING PLACES

Decide on safe, familiar places where your family can go for protection or to reunite. 

Make sure these locations are accessible for household members with disabilities 

or access and functional needs. If you have pets or service animals, think about 

animal-friendly locations. Identify the following places: 

Indoor: If you live in an area where tornadoes, hurricanes, or other high-wind 

storms can happen, make sure everyone knows where to go for protection. 

This could be a small, interior, windowless room, such as a closet or bathroom, 

on the lowest level of a sturdy building, or a tornado safe room or storm shelter.

In your neighborhood: This is a place in your neighborhood where your 

household members will meet if there is a fire or other emergency and you 

need to leave your home. The meeting place could be a big tree, a mailbox at 

the end of the driveway, or a neighbor’s house.

Outside of your neighborhood: This is a place where your family will meet if 

a disaster happens when you’re not at home and you can’t get back to your 

home. This could be a library, community center, house of worship, or family 

friend’s home.
3

Outside of your town or city: Having an out-of-town meeting place can help you 

reunite if a disaster happens and: 

• You cannot get home or to your out-of-neighborhood meeting place; or 

• Your family is not together and your community is instructed to evacuate 

the area.

This meeting place could be the home of a relative or family friend. Make sure 

everyone knows the address of the meeting place and discuss ways you would 

get there. 

OTHER IMPORTANT NUMBERS AND INFORMATION

You should also write down phone numbers for emergency services, utilities, 

service providers, medical providers, veterinarians, insurance companies, and 

other services.

SHARE

MAKE SURE

EVERYONE HAS 

THE INFORMATION

Make copies of your Family Emergency Communication Plan for each 

member of the household to carry in his or her wallet, backpack, or purse. 

Post a copy in a central place at home. Regularly check to make sure your 

household members are carrying their plan with them. 

Enter household and emergency contact information into all household 

members’ mobile phones or devices. 

Store at least one emergency contact under the name “In Case of 

Emergency” or “ICE” for all mobile phones and devices. This will help 

someone identify your emergency contact if needed. Inform your emergency 

contact of any medical issues or other requirements you may have.

Create a group list on all mobile phones and devices of the people you would 

need to communicate with if there was an emergency or disaster. 

Make sure all household members and your out-of-town contact know how 

to text if they have a mobile phone or device, or know alternative ways to 

communicate if they are unable to text.

Read Know Your Alerts and Warnings at ready.gov and sign up to receive 

emergency information.

NOW IT’S TIME TO

PRACTICE!

Once you have completed your Family Emergency Communication Plan, made 

copies for all the members of your household, and discussed it, it’s time to practice!

Here are some ideas for practicing your plan:

Practice texting and calling. Have each person practice sending a text message 

or calling your out-of-town contact and sending a group text to your mobile 

phone group list.

Discuss what information you should send by text. You will want to let others 

know you are safe and where you are. Short messages like “I’m OK. At library” 

are good.
4

Talk about who will be the lead person to send out information about the 

designated meeting place for the household.

Practice gathering all household members at your indoor and neighborhood 

emergency meeting places. Talk about how each person would get to the 

identified out-of-neighborhood and out-of-town meeting places. Discuss all 

modes of transportation, such as public transportation, rail, and para-transit for 

all family members, including people with disabilities and others with access 

and functional needs.

Regularly have conversations with household members and friends about the 

plan, such as whom and how to text or call, and where to go. 

To show why it’s important to keep phone numbers written down, challenge 

your household members to recite important phone numbers from memory—

now ask them to think about doing this in the event of an emergency.

Make sure everyone, including children, knows how and when to call 911 for 

help. You should only call 911 when there is a life-threatening emergency.

Review, update, and practice your Family Emergency Communication Plan at 

least once a year, or whenever any of your information changes.

To help start the conversation or remind your family why you are taking 

steps to prepare and practice, you may want to watch the 4-minute video, 

It Started Like Any Other Day, about families who have experienced disaster, at 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_omgt3MEBs. Click on the closed captioning (CC) 

icon on the lower right to turn on the captioning.

After you practice, talk about how it went. What worked well? What can be 

improved? What information, if any, needs to be updated? If you make updates, 

remember to print new copies of the plan for everyone.

OTHER IMPORTANT TIPS FOR COMMUNICATING IN DISASTERS1

placing your phone in airplane mode, and closing apps you do not need. Limit 

Conserve your mobile phone battery by reducing the brightness of your screen, 

you’ve re-sent the same data. This contributes to a clogged network.

from the handset to the cell sites do not have enough time to clear before 

Wait 10 seconds before redialing a number. If you redial too quickly, the data 

the network for emergency communications, and conserve battery power. 

household members. This will minimize network congestion, free up space on 

brief and convey only vital information to emergency personnel and/or family or 

watching videos and playing video games to help reduce network congestion. 

Keep charged batteries, a car phone charger, and a solar charger available for 

backup power for your mobile phone, teletypewriters (TTYs), amplified phones, 

Text is best when using a mobile phone, but if you make a phone call, keep it 

and caption phones. If you charge your phone in your car, be sure the car is in a 

monoxide poisoning. 

well-ventilated area (e.g., not in a closed garage) to avoid life-threatening carbon 

1

 Federal Communications Commission, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. (n.d.) Tips for communicating 

in an emergency. Retrieved from http://transition.fcc.gov/pshs/emergency-information/tips.html
If driving, do not text, read texts, or make a call without a hands-free device. 

Maintain a household landline and analog phone (with battery backup if it 

has a cordless receiver) that can be used when mobile phone service is 

unavailable. Those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, or who have speech 

disabilities and use devices and services that depend on digital technology 

(e.g., VRS, Internet Protocol [IP] Relay, or captioning) should have an analog 

phone (e.g., TTY, amplified phone, or caption phone) with battery backup in 

case Internet or mobile service is down. 

If you evacuate and have a call-forwarding feature on your home phone, 

forward your home phone number to your mobile phone number.

Use the Internet to communicate by email, Twitter, Facebook, and other 

social media networks. These communication channels allow you to share 

information quickly with a widespread audience or to find out if loved ones 

are OK. The Internet can also be used for telephone calls through Voice over 

Internet Protocol. For those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, or who have 

speech disabilities, you can make calls through your IP Relay provider.

If you do not have a mobile phone, keep a prepaid phone card to use if 

needed during or after a disaster.

Use a pay phone if available. It may have less congestion because these 

phones don’t rely on electricity or mobile networks. In some public places, 

you may be able to find a TTY that can be used by those who are Deaf or 

hard of hearing, or who have speech disabilities.

The reader recognizes that the Federal Government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness 

resources and events and does not endorse any non-Federal events, entities, organizations, services, or products.

FEMA P-1094

Catalog No. 17166-2

Assemble or 

Update

Supplies 

Get Involved in

Your Community 

Sign up 

for Alerts

and Warnings 

Plan with

Neighbors

Make a Plan

Make Your 

Home

Safer

Document and

Insure Property

Safeguard

Documents

Know 

Evacuation

Routes 

Practice 

Emergency 

Drills

EXIT

Save for a

Rainy Day

Test Family

Communication

Plan

12 WAYS TO PREPARE
i

FAMILY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION PLAN

HOUSEHOLD 

INFORMATION

Home #: ...........................................................

Address:.

Name: ..................... Mobile #: ........................

Other # or social media: ...................................

Email: ...............................................................

Important medical or other information: ...........

..........................................................................

Name: ..................... Mobile #: ........................

Other # or social media: ...................................

Email: .

Important medical or other information: ...........

..........................................................................

Name: ..................... Mobile #: ........................

Other # or social media: ...................................

Email: ...............................................................

Important medical or other information: ...........

..........................................................................

Name: ..................... Mobile #: ........................

Other # or social media: ...................................

Email: .

Important medical or other information: ...........

..........................................................................

SCHOOL, 

CHILDCARE, 

CAREGIVER, AND 

WORKPLACE 

EMERGENCY PLANS

Name: .

Address: ............................................................

Emergency/Hotline #: .......................................

Website: ...........................................................

Emergency Plan/Pick-Up: .................................
ii

SCHOOL, 

CHILDCARE, 

CAREGIVER, AND 

WORKPLACE 

EMERGENCY PLANS

Name: ..............................................................

Address: ............................................................

Emergency/Hotline #: .......................................

Website: ..........................................................

Emergency Plan/Pick-Up: .

Name: ..............................................................

Address:............................................................

Emergency/Hotline #: .

Website: .

Emergency Plan/Pick-Up: .................................

Name: ..............................................................

Address:.

Emergency/Hotline #: .......................................

Website: .

Emergency Plan/Pick-Up: .

Name: ..................... Mobile #: .

Home #: .Email: .............................

Address: .

Name: ..................... Mobile #: .

Home #: .Email: .............................

Address: .

Indoor: ..............................................................

Instructions: .....................................................

Neighborhood: .................................................

Instructions: .

Out-of-Neighborhood:.

Address:............................................................

Instructions: .....................................................

Out-of-Town: ....................................................

Address:.

Instructions: .....................................................

IN CASE OF 

EMERGENCY

(ICE) CONTACT

OUT-OF-TOWN 

CONTACT

EMERGENCY 

MEETING PLACES
iii

IMPORTANT 

NUMBERS OR 

INFORMATION

Police: .................. Dial 911 or #: .

Fire: ...................... Dial 911 or #: .

Poison Control: ........................#: ....................

Doctor: .#: ....................

Doctor: ....................................#: ....................

Pediatrician: .#: ....................

Dentist: .#: ....................

Hospital/Clinic: ........................#: .

Pharmacy: ...............................#: .....................

Medical Insurance: .#: ....................

Policy #: ............................................................

Medical Insurance: ..................#: .

Policy #: ............................................................

Homeowner/Rental Insurance: .

#: ......................................................................

Policy #: ............................................................

Flood Insurance: .#: .

Policy #: ............................................................

Veterinarian: .#: ....................

Kennel: .#: ....................

Electric Company: .#: ....................

Gas Company: ........................#: ....................

Water Company: .#: .

Alternate/Accessible Transportation: ................

#: .

Other: .#: ....................

Other: .#: .

Other: .....................................#: . FEMA P-1094

Catalog No. 17166-2