Last night, as part of family night, we talked about our personal family preparedness plan. We hear about ward preparedness plans and community plans. Why not have a plan just for our family? Here are some of the things we talked about and did.

• We decided once again where our meeting place will be if the house is damaged in any way.
• We decided what we would do if our daughter was at school during an earthquake or other disaster, how we would go get her.
• We reviewed again how to shut-off the gas meter and the main water valve in case the gas and water lines were damaged. 
• We collected emergency contact numbers and put them in a computer file, in small print. Next, we’ll print and laminate cards with those numbers on them so we can each put one in our wallets. 
• We also checked our flashlights. Bad shape. Batteries need replacement.
• Do we have shoes under our beds or our side of the bed? Why do we need that? Well, as my wife reminded us, in case of earthquake, there could be broken glass on the floor, between you and your closet. If you needed to get out of the house in a hurry, well, ouch. 

These are just a few preliminaries of our plan. We can’t do it all in one family night. It’s best to work at a little at a time, like most things. Just be consistent, and keep after it, a little at a time. That’s what works.

Calm. Unpanicked.