Create a household emergency plan

Learn about the risks we're more likely to face in Norfolk.

Think about how these emergencies could affect your household and what you can include in your emergency plan to prepare for them.

If you can, involve everyone in your household in writing your emergency plan - it will help them prepare.

You can use the Government's household emergency plan template (Word doc). Make sure you include the following information:

Escape routes

You may need to leave your home or neighbourhood for your own safety.

Plan how you will:

• Leave your home if you have to escape in an emergency - like a fire, flood, or gas leak. Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service explain how to create a fire escape plan
• Get out of your neighbourhood if emergency services evacuate the area - you may not be able to leave by the usual routes. Learn more about emergency evacuation.

Write details of your escape routes in your household emergency plan.

Agreed meeting points

Decide on a place you can meet if it's not safe to go home - like a library, community centre, or another public building nearby.

You should also agree a meeting point outside of your immediate neighbourhood, in case the area is evacuated.

Write details of your agreed meeting points in your emergency plan.

Important contact numbers

Write down important numbers in your emergency plan, and store them in your mobile phone. We've put together a list of the main contacts you'll need in an emergency.

You should also include contact details for:

• Doctor (GP)
• Local pharmacy
• Family - those within your household as well as other family members
• Schools or childcare
• Employers
• Carers or clinical teams
• People from your community, including neighbours

Current medication

Write down a list of all the medication you or your family are taking. Make sure you include:

• Name and strength of the medicine
• Dosage instruction - how much you should take and how often
• Who the medicine is for

Radio stations

During an emergency, radio stations will broadcast important warnings and advice. This includes BBC Radio Norfolk, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4.

Know how to tune into local radio stations, and write their frequencies down in your emergency plan.

List of FM and AM frequencies for BBC radio services.

How to get information you can trust in an emergency.

Insurance details

Include the names of your insurance companies, their phone numbers, and your policy numbers. You'll need these details if your property is damaged because of a fire in the home or flooding.

How to turn off utilities

You might need to turn off the mains water, gas, or electricity in your home during an emergency. Only turn off your utilities if it is safe to do so.

Write down where the following are in your home:

• Water stop tap: Where to find your stop tap (Anglian Water)
• Gas isolation valve (also called an 'emergency control valve'): How to turn off your gas supply (Cadent Gas)
• Electricity isolation switch

After an emergency, get a qualified person to check your utilities are safe to use. Never turn your gas supply back on yourself - you must get a qualified gas engineer to do this for you. Use Norfolk Trusted Trader to find gas engineers that have been checked by Norfolk Trading Standards.

When you've written your emergency plan, keep it somewhere it will be easy to find in an emergency. Make sure everyone in your household knows where the plan is kept.

You could keep it with other important documents you might need quick access to in an emergency - like passports, birth certificates, and insurance policies.