How to Make a Family Emergency Plan

Q: How many meeting places should a family emergency plan have?

Two: one near home for immediate situations like a house fire, and one outside the neighborhood for when you can't return home or need to evacuate the area.

Q: How often should a family practice their emergency plan?

At least once or twice a year: walk through different scenarios, practice contacting the out-of-area person, and walk the route to the outside meeting place.

Q: What if a family member doesn't have a working phone during an emergency?

The plan needs non-phone backups: a written physical copy with key information, agreed meeting places that don't require communication, and ideally a family radio plan.

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The best emergency kit in the world doesn’t help if your family doesn’t know the plan when it actually matters — and phones often don’t work when you need them most. This guide covers how to make a family emergency plan: the pieces it needs, and how to actually get everyone to remember it.

Quick answer

A solid family plan covers four things: an out-of-area contact everyone calls or texts, two meeting places (one near home, one outside the neighborhood), a communication method that doesn’t rely only on cell networks, and a written copy every family member carries or has memorized. Write it down, practice it once, and keep it somewhere everyone can find it without power.

Step 1: pick an out-of-area contact

Choose someone outside your immediate region — a relative or close friend in another state or even another country. During a local disaster, long-distance calls and texts often get through more reliably than local ones, since local networks get overloaded. Everyone in the family calls or texts this one person to check in, and that person relays information between family members who can’t reach each other directly.

Step 2: set two meeting places

Near home: a specific spot right outside (a tree, a mailbox, a neighbor’s porch) for emergencies like a house fire, where everyone gathers immediately.
Outside the neighborhood: a specific location (a relative’s house, a library, a school) for when you can’t return home or need to evacuate the area — pick somewhere everyone can get to on foot if needed, and agree on it by name and address, not just “that place we talked about.”

Step 3: plan communication beyond phone calls

Texting over calling — texts often get through on overloaded networks when calls don’t, and use less bandwidth.
Group chat or messaging app the whole family already uses, so a single message reaches everyone.
A family radio plan if you have GMRS/FRS radios — agree on a channel in advance. See our two-way radio guide.
Social media check-in (many platforms have a “mark yourself safe” feature during declared disasters) as a backup, not a primary method.
A written contact list with phone numbers for family, doctors, schools, and work — memorized numbers fail when you’re relying on a phone that’s dead or lost.

Step 4: cover the specifics that matter for your household

Kids: know your school’s emergency and reunification procedures, and make sure the school has your correct emergency contacts on file.
Pets: decide who’s responsible for them and where carriers/supplies are kept. See evacuating with pets.
Medical needs: list medications, allergies, and conditions for each family member, and know where backup supplies are.
Utility shutoffs: make sure every adult (and capable teen) knows how to shut off gas, water, and electricity.
Work and school locations: know each other’s daytime locations and the evacuation routes from each.

Step 5: write it down and distribute it

A plan that lives only in one person’s head fails the moment that person is unavailable. Put it on a single page: out-of-area contact (name and number), both meeting places (names and addresses), each family member’s phone number, and key medical info. Then:

Give a printed copy to every family member old enough to carry one.
Post a copy somewhere visible at home (inside a cabinet door, on the fridge).
Keep a copy in your 72-hour kit and car.
Save a photo of it on every phone, in case the paper copy is lost.

Step 6: practice it

A plan nobody has practiced is just a document. Once or twice a year:

Do a walkthrough: “if the smoke alarm went off right now, where would you go?”
Have kids practice texting or calling the out-of-area contact.
Walk the route to the outside-the-neighborhood meeting place together at least once.
Review and update the plan when phone numbers, addresses, or school info change.

Frequently asked questions

Why should the emergency contact be out of the area?

Local phone networks often get overloaded during a regional disaster, while long-distance calls and texts can still get through. An out-of-area contact becomes a reliable relay point everyone can reach to check in and pass messages.

How many meeting places should a family emergency plan have?

Two: one right near home for immediate situations like a house fire, and one outside the neighborhood for when you can’t return home or need to evacuate the area entirely.

Why is texting better than calling during an emergency?

Text messages use less network bandwidth than voice calls and often get through on overloaded cell networks when calls fail or get busy signals, making them more reliable right after a disaster.

What should be included on a written family emergency plan?

The out-of-area contact’s name and number, both meeting place addresses, each family member’s phone number, key medical information, and utility shutoff locations, all on a single page everyone can carry or access.

How often should a family practice their emergency plan?

At least once or twice a year: walk through what to do for different scenarios, practice contacting the out-of-area person, and walk the route to the outside meeting place so it’s familiar, not just written down.

What if a family member doesn’t have a working phone during an emergency?

This is why the plan needs non-phone backups: a written physical copy with all the key information, agreed meeting places that don’t require communication to reach, and ideally a family radio plan for local communication without cell networks.

Bottom line

An out-of-area contact, two meeting places, a communication plan beyond phone calls, and a written copy everyone has access to — that’s a complete family emergency plan. Write it down, practice it once a year, and it becomes something your family actually does under stress instead of something you meant to figure out.

This article is for general informational purposes only. Sources: Ready.gov family communication plan guidance; FEMA emergency planning resources; American Red Cross family disaster planning.