Disaster Preparedness Plan and Pet Evacuation Packs

Your friendly CoastView Vet staff has put together a series of documents and videos to make disaster planning as quick and easy as possible. Please feel free to share this information with your family, friends, and neighbors even if they aren’t current CoastView Vet clients.

The following disaster planning content includes plans for both evacuation and shelter-in-place scenarios.

The Disaster Preparedness Supplies – Evacuation Packs

Pet-Evac-Packs

Whether you are instructed to evacuate or shelter-in-place, having the most important supplies packed is the first step in our disaster preparedness plan.

Here is a checklist of the most common items recommended by several emergency response agencies. It is recommended to have a one to 3 week supply of the applicable items on the checklist.

Here is a video from the AVMA – Saving the Whole Family; Disaster Prep and Your Pets – with some helpful tips for dog, cat, horse, and livestock owners.

Once you’ve assembled your supplies, consider packing them in a brightly colored duffle bag with a handle or backpack-type straps because, in the case of an emergency, you could have your hands full of children, dogs on leashes, and cats in carriers, etc.

Be sure to place the duffle bag in a logical place which can be easily accessed by your dedicated pet rescuer, neighbor, or friend.

Once you’ve packed the supplies, choose a logical location in your home where the pack is always stored. ALWAYS.

Think it through, imagine disaster striking in the middle of the night; you are startled out of a deep sleep, frightened and disoriented, it’s still dark outside, the power is out, the room is filling with smoke, etc. This is not the time to run around searching for the evac-paks or frantically grabbing supplies, water, food, medication.

Instead, because you’ve already planned for this, you grab your own evac-pack, turn on the flashlights, and help your other family members – including your pets (who each have their own evac-packs) evacuate as safely as possible to your predetermined safe place (in the driveway, at the mailbox, in the garage, in the car, etc.) in 90-seconds or less.

You may have heard about the standard “6-Minute Rule,” which may be applicable during certain disasters; however, a 6-minute window is not applicable for a fast-moving fire or a gas leak during which seconds can mean the difference between life and death.

Run practice drills with your entire family until you can make the 90-seconds or less mark.

Your Own “Fill-in-the-Blank” Disaster Preparedness Plan

Your CoastView staff created this fill-in-the-blanks – one-page plan – to help you get started right NOW.

FEMA has made it clear.

In the event of an evacuation…

TAKE YOUR PETS WITH YOU!

One of the many lessons learned after hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, and Irma was the human-animal bond is stronger than most officials realized. So strong that many people chose to risk their own death rather than leaving behind their pets.

These tragic cases spurred significant changes to the laws and most rescue-related agencies now must accept pets along with their people in the event of an evacuation.

Thus, disaster preparedness or evacuation plans are complete only when they include preparations for our pets.

Supporting Videos and Links to More Resources

How to find your Facebook Messenger I.D. This app proved very helpful as people were able to “Mark Themselves as Safe” during prior disasters where landlines were down, power was out, and cell towers were jammed.