*Family Emergency Operations Plan*
In 2001, the Seattle metropolitan area suffered a near miss but still powerful earthquake. While registering a 6.7 on the scale, it was deep and that prevented major and widespread damage. However, it alerted me to the concept that I needed a rapidly accessible family operations plan that included important information. Considering that my family would likely suffer a major catastrophe like a natural disaster or loss of the house due to fire or flood, the Family Emergency Operations Plan (FEOP - pronounced fee-op) was born.
The FEOP is presently contained in a ½ inch three ring binder. It is normally held in our Grab ‘n Go (GNG) bag. FEOP contains the following chapters:
Each page is maintained in a sealed plastic sheet sleeve that can be readily removed. I did try laminated sheets but found them to be difficult to use in a binder and problematic for copies due to the glossy surface.
In addition to the pages, I have scanned and saved the information to a CD-ROM for easy computer access. The CD-ROM is held in a sleeve attached to the binder. I explored encrypting the information. However, my very smart wife pointed out that accessing by the appropriate personnel may be needed if one or both of us were unable to give the appropriate code. So we agreed the trade-off was to have accessible files.
While the binder contains so much personal information, it and the GNG bag is securely maintained in the house fire safe when we are not in the house.
The FEOP is a handy tool for helping my family in those moments of crisis and rapid evacuation of our home.
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