What’s Your Shelter-In-Place Plan?

What’s Your Shelter-In-Place Plan?
Tornadoes or a Chemical Incident are just a couple of potential disasters that would require you to “Shelter-In-Place“. When a disaster strikes that raises uncertainty outside your best bet may be to stay where you’re at. Without wanting to sound overly dramatic, the decision to “Shelter-In-Place” or “Grab-n-Go” can literally make all the difference in a survival situation. Understanding and then planning for the possibilities can make all the difference in the outcome for you and your family.
Keeping in mind that a large portion of the population spends at least 8 hours everyday outside of the home, that means there’s at least a 33% chance that you’ll be somewhere other than your home when an emergency situation arises.
I would recommend that you first start with planning to Shelter-in-Place at your home and then your place of employment, followed by any other location that you may spend a large amount of time at.
Take the time to identify potential disasters that can occur in your area that would require you to Shelter-in-Place. Any type of airborne virus or chemical incident would require Sheltering-In-Place. In a situation such as this, you’ll also need to take the necessary steps to “Seal the room”, this helps to insure that you’ve protected yourself from contaminated air from the outside. Keep in mind that this is a temporary measure.
While creating your plan take the time to identify where you’ll keep your supplies for sealing a room. If you need to seal a room, try to select a room that has the fewest windows, vents and doors, (basements are preferable).
Here’s a couple of tips from ready.gov:
• Bring your family and pets inside.
• Lock doors, close windows, air vents and fireplace dampers.
• Turn off fans, air conditioning and forced air heating systems.
• Take your emergency supply kit unless you have reason to believe it has been contaminated.
• Go into an interior room with few windows, if possible.
• Seal all windows, doors and air vents with plastic sheeting and duct tape. Consider measuring and cutting the sheeting in advance to save time.
• Be prepared to improvise and use what you have on hand to seal gaps so that you create a barrier between yourself and any contamination.
• Local authorities may not immediately be able to provide information on what is happening and what you should do. However, you should watch TV, listen to the radio or check the Internet often for official news and instructions as they become available.
Make sure that you’ve got the food, water and supplies that you need as part of your Sheltering-In-Place Plan!