Create a Household Communication Plan

• Choose two meeting places — one near home, one outside the neighbourhood
• Pick an out-of-area contact everyone can check in with
• Write the plan on paper so it survives a dead phone
• Make sure every household member, including children, knows it

• Paper and pen

  Standard

  One card per person, small enough for a wallet, bag or school bag.

  Low cost

  Index cards or a cut-up sheet of paper.

  Already have

  The back of an envelope works — write it today, tidy it later.

• Your contact numbers

  Standard

  Numbers written out in full, including area codes.

  Low cost

  Copy them off your phone now while it's charged.

  Already have

  Your phone's contacts list.

• Somewhere everyone sees it

  Standard

  Inside a kitchen cupboard door or on the fridge.

  Low cost

  Tape.

  Already have

  A magnet.

1. 01Pick a meeting spot right outside your homeSomewhere you'd gather if you all had to leave the house quickly — the end of the drive, a specific tree, a neighbour's gate. Name it precisely, not 'outside'.
2. 02Pick a second spot away from the neighbourhoodSomewhere you could all reach if you couldn't get home at all — a library, a relative's house, a supermarket car park. Choose one everyone can reach on foot, by bus or by car.
3. 03Choose one out-of-area contactA friend or relative who lives far enough away that the same event is unlikely to affect them. In a busy network, a long-distance call or text often gets through when local ones don't. Everyone checks in with that one person, and that person becomes the message hub.
4. 04Ask them firstCall the person and ask if they're willing. Tell them what you'd want them to do: take check-ins, and tell each caller what the others have said.
5. 05Write the cardOn each card: both meeting spots, the out-of-area contact's name and full number, each household member's number, your address, and any medical note that matters (allergies, medication, conditions). Keep it to one side of a card.
6. 06Add the numbers a phone won't give youYour utility's outage line, your doctor's surgery, your children's school or nursery, your insurer, and your local non-emergency police number. Emergency services in your country stay as they are — 911 in the US, 999 or 112 in the UK and much of Europe.
7. 07Agree the text ruleIn a busy network, short text messages often get through when calls don't. Agree that everyone texts first — 'I'm ok, I'm at X' — and saves calling for when they need something.
8. 08Walk children through itPoint at the near meeting spot in real life. Have them say the out-of-area contact's name out loud. Younger children should carry the card in a school bag rather than be expected to remember a number.
9. 09Say when you'd review itNumbers change. Put a reminder in your calendar for six months, or review it whenever someone moves, changes number or changes school.

Verified guidance · Ready.gov (FEMA) — Make A Plan