Family Emergency Binder

As part of our ward emergency plan we recommend that you create an "emergency binder."  Keep this binder near your 72 hour kit(s).

The idea behind this binder is to have the most vital information that you may need in an emergency, all in one place, that you can "grab and go" if needed.

There are also items listed that you may need even if you are staying home to "weather out" the emergency.

Included in the binder could be (choose as many as you feel prompted):

• Copy of your family emergency plan
• Copy of your ward emergency plan
• Drawing of your house with the bedrooms marked if children need to be rescued.
• Drawing of your house with a fire escape plan.  Have your Weblos scout help you with this.
• Photos of everyone in your family.  Use these photos to locate a family member in case someone gets separated from you in an emergency.
• Copies of birth certificates.  You may need these to retrieve your child from a school that has been in lock down.
• Passports
• Important phone numbers.  Relatives, Insurance agent, etc.
• Medical Insurance policy numbers, etc.
• Allergy information of family members
• Other important medical information (diabetes, hear condition, etc.)
• Copies of blessing and ordinance certificates 
• Vehicle titles
• Mortgage information
• Wills/Trusts/etc.
• If you have a child serving a mission, mission home contact information.
• Emergency pages/flags to display your status to your neighbours or the ward leadership via an emergency prep worker.  See below:
• etc

You will have to decide if you are going to keep the original copies of documents in the binder or keep them in a fireproof safe in your home.

This will be discussed further in the Ward Emergency Plan blog post, you can download a pdf of the emergency flags to include in your binder here.

You post these flags in a place that is visible from the outside where a "block leader" can walk/drive by and see the status of your home and family. That way, if all is well, the information can be sent on without disturbing you.

Also, in the case of a quarantine, they can know this without endangering themselves.

If you want to save ink, you can use construction paper or similar with the colors listed in the PDF.  To help you remember which colors mean what, write the wording on the papers, then put them in your binder.


Video:
For more information about an emergency binder, and a larger list of things to keep inside, here is a YouTube Video about emergency binders.