Use a short format
Send name, time, location, status, destination, and next check-in. Separate confirmed facts from guesses. Text may work when a voice call does not.
Keep life going · Communication and reconnecting
Plan for Separation, Not Constant Contact.
Most households are apart for much of the day. The useful communication plan begins there: who carries the message, where people go, and what “I’m safe” looks like when a call does not connect.
Choose one person and three places.
Pick an out-of-area contact everyone can reach. Choose a meeting place near home, another outside the neighborhood, and one connected to school, work, care, or transit.
Write the plan on paper. Phones store excellent plans right up until the battery, network, passcode, or person holding the phone is unavailable.
Make each message useful.
Carry the plan
Keep a small card in wallets, backpacks, mobility equipment, school materials, and vehicles. Include communication needs and a way to identify the right support person.
Power the essentials
Keep charging cables, a power bank, vehicle adapter when available, hearing-aid batteries, and backup power for communication devices. Test them.
Know the official channel
Enroll in local alerts and identify the official emergency-management, weather, utility, school, work, and transit sources you would check first.
Make the plan usable by everyone.
Children and dependents
Decide who may pick someone up, how identity will be checked, and what happens if the usual caregiver or route is unavailable.
Communication access
Include plain-language, translated, visual, written, relay, captioned, or device-supported options. Keep a laminated communication board if it would help.
Privacy and safety
Do not publish household status, location, or vulnerability broadly. Choose who receives what and use a neutral message when disclosure could create risk.
Longer interruptions
Expect charging, network, mail, travel, and contact lists to fail unevenly. Use scheduled check-ins, physical message points, radio or public boards where established, and trusted runners.
Official instructions outrank the household schedule. Do not travel to a meeting place through an evacuation area, damaged route, floodwater, fire, downed lines, or another current hazard.
Reconnection works better when the other person agreed.
A plan can be small: one contact, one message format, one nearby place, one distant place, and one next check-in time. Practice it on an ordinary day.
FEMA’s planning guidance supports out-of-area contacts, accessible meeting places, written copies, household-specific needs, and practice. FEMA household planning 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 household planning guidance. Recheck official instructions before publication and during any interruption.