Do you have an emergency communications plan? Have you spoken to your children about fire safety? Do you know how to shut-off potentially dangerous utilities in your home? If the answer to these questions are no, its time to take action!

Preparing your family for a terrorist attack or a natural disaster is not easy. Here you will find basic information about assessing your family members’ individual needs, mapping your home and preparing an emergency plan, and developing a single point of contact should your family be in various locations at the time of catastrophic event.

• Download your emergency checklist at www.ready.gov

Ready Kids

Run by the United States Department of Homeland Security, this site is designed specifically to assist children and families create emergency plans, disaster supply kits and stay informed.

Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness

A comprehensive guide published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on how to stay informed about local emergency response plans, identify hazards that affect your community, developing an emergency communications plan and disaster supplies kit, and procedures about evacuating and “sheltering in place.”

Building Community Resilience for Children and Families

This special report provides techniques to assist families and children in achieving a high level of preparedness. It supplies citizens with numerous action steps they can take today to enhance their family and community’s resilience. (The Terrorism and Disaster Center (TDC) at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) published the report).

Helping Children and Adolescents Cope with Disasters: What Community Members Can Do

Published by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), this website is specifically designed for parents, teachers and clergy. It provides insights into the types of trauma children and adolescents can suffer from a terrorist attack or natural disaster, and discusses many strategies to help them prepare for and recover from a catastrophic event.

FAQs: Public Alert Radios for Public Schools

Numerous federal agencies including the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education sponsored this website, which provides comprehensive information about public alert radios and the important role they can play in safeguarding our children by ensuring communication with emergency management professionals in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.