Food, water, and medicine
Pack familiar food, safe water, feeding or administration tools, prescriptions, written instructions, and product-specific temperature needs.
Keep life going · Animals and dependents
Keep Care Going When the Routine Moves.
Care does not pause because the building, route, school, pharmacy, or shelter changes. Write down what another person would need to keep the routine safe for one day, then make that day portable.
Describe the care without relying on memory.
Write the daily timing, food, water, medication, communication, comfort, mobility, toileting, supervision, and equipment needs. Include what causes harm if it is delayed.
Name a backup person and ask explicitly. Caring for a child, adult, pet, service animal, or livestock is not a task to assign by surprise.
Make one day of care movable.
Identification and authority
Keep current photos, contacts, school or care authorization, custody or decision documents where relevant, veterinary records, tags, microchip details, and service information.
Transport and destination
Test carriers, harnesses, car seats, mobility equipment, loading, vehicle space, accessible routes, and destinations that can accept the whole care arrangement.
Keep the routine recognizable
Include communication aids, sensory supports, comfort items, schedules, and a plain description of what helps someone settle or cooperate.
Plan for different kinds of dependence.
Children
Know school or childcare reunification rules, authorized pickup, medications, comfort needs, car seats, communication, and what happens if caregivers cannot reach the site.
Adults receiving care
Preserve choice, privacy, equipment, communication, medication, service providers, and the person’s preferred way of receiving help.
Pets and service animals
Plan a buddy, pet-friendly destination, identification, records, carrier or leash, waste supplies, medication, and a current photo together. Service animals have distinct legal access.
Livestock and other animals
Evacuation may require trailers, loading practice, multiple destinations, feed, water, fencing, veterinary contacts, and action earlier than a household departure.
Do not leave an animal or dependent in a place you have been ordered to evacuate. If the planned destination cannot receive everyone, use the backup route or contact the responsible local service early.
A backup is a person who said yes.
Record what the backup can do, what they cannot do, how they get access, when they take over, and how the arrangement ends. Review consent regularly.
FEMA’s pet guidance recommends a buddy system, evacuation destinations, identification, records, food, water, medication, and current emergency contacts. FEMA animal preparedness guidance.
One adjacent move
Household workbook
Map the people, systems, places, and arrangements this capability depends on.
Current public help
Find Official Help for current local authorities, alerts, utilities, health guidance, roads, weather, or shelters.
Reviewed July 25, 2026 against FEMA animal preparedness guidance. Recheck official instructions before publication and during any interruption.