The preparations that you made for your family emergency plan and emergency kit were a great start to disaster preparedness, but it is equally important to maintain the plan and refresh the kit to maximize you and your family’s safety. It is recommended that you perform these tasks routinely, as you can never know just when a disaster may hit. To maintain your peace of mind, and to allow you and your family to be as ready as possible, you should keep regular maintenance of your kit and plan.

Keeping the Plan Up-To-Date

To keep your family plan up to date, you should routinely review and practice the different scenarios. A good way to do this is to review the plan at least twice a year and test your family members with questions about emergency exits, meeting spots, and other details. Afterwards, you should conduct fire and emergency evacuation drills on a regular basis with your family.

Be sure to update your emergency card and communication plan whenever there are any changes to your local or out of town contacts, or meeting location. This is more important for your kids, so keep that emergency card up to date at all times.

Updating Your Emergency Kit

It is imperative that you keep your emergency kit up to date to assure it will serve you when you need it. It is recommended that at least twice a year you check the water and food supplies for expiration dates and discard anything that is expired. It would be resourceful of you to use anything that is about to expire instead of discarding it when the date has already passed. But be sure to replenish it immediately.

Every time you check your food supplies, you should also test your equipment. On your fire extinguishers, read the indicator and follow the manufacturer’s instructions to recharge them. Your smoke alarms should be tested monthly and batteries replaced whenever required. Other equipment to check is your portable radio and communication device. And lastly, it is also important to not forget to refresh your medical supplies and replace anything that may be expired.