It’s Children and Youth Preparedness Awareness Month
Preparing and planning done ahead of time can help keep you and your family safe when a natural disaster or emergency occurs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated August as “Children and Youth Preparedness Awareness Month,” an opportunity to teach children how to be safe in an emergency.
Here are some simple recommendations:
Before an emergency
- Talk to your children so that they know you are prepared to keep them safe.
- Have an evacuation plan and designated meeting locations both near home and outside your neighborhood. Know your hurricane evacuation zone and where you would go in the event an evacuation is ordered.
- Prepare a “go bag” for emergencies that includes:
- First aid kit
- Flashlight
- Battery-powered or crank radio (and extra batteries for it, if needed)
- Charging cables for cell phones
- Bottled water (one gallon of water per person in plastic bottles or jugs)
- Ready-to-eat foods that do not need a refrigerator
- Personal care items such as toothbrush, toothpaste, and skin wipes
- Medications and medication list
- Important documents (such as insurance cards, immunization records, or other health information) in a waterproof bag
- Cash
- Activity books and board games to keep children occupied
- Check the batteries in your carbon monoxide (CO) detectors at least once a month. CO is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless gas that can cause sudden illness and death if inhaled.
- Identify emergency departments, urgent care centers, and dialysis centers near your home and along your designated evacuation route.
- Write down important phone numbers and addresses, including doctors, your children’s school or daycare, and any friends or family members who might serve as a point of contact.
During an emergency
- Stay calm and reassure your children.
- Talk to children about what is happening (keep it simple).
After an emergency
- Learn how to protect your family from post-disaster threats and hazards, including power outages, flooding, fires, and any potential health effects.
- Encourage your children to share concerns and ask questions.
Stay Informed
Here are some additional recommendations from the City of New York for staying safe in an emergency:
- Sign up for Notify NYC to get emergency alerts from the City. Notify NYC is the City’s official source of emergency information, including weather emergencies and subway and road closures. Download the Notify NYC app for mobile devices or visit NYC.gov/notifynyc, call 311 (for Video Relay Service: 212-639-9675; for TTY: 212-504- 4115), or follow @NotifyNYC on X.
- During an emergency, follow instructions from on-scene emergency responders or monitor NotifyNYC and local radio, television, and internet news services for the latest information, including information about emergency shelter.
- During some emergencies, officials may advise you to stay where you are (sheltering in place). Generally, this means that it is safest for you to remain in your apartment.
- If an emergency requires that you shelter in place, do not leave your place of safety to pick up your children from school until the danger has passed and shelter-in-place orders have been lifted. Schools have their own shelter-in-place procedures. You will only endanger yourself by leaving a safe area during the emergency.
If you need any information or assistance with getting to an emergency shelter, please call 311 (for Video Relay Service: 212-639-9675; for TTY: 212-504- 4115). The City has a homebound evacuation plan in which people can be transported in an accessible City vehicle or ambulance, depending on their needs.
If you have questions about this or any environmental health and safety matter, please email ehs@nycha.nyc.gov. Residents, employees, and any member of the public can submit environmental health and safety concerns at https://on.nyc.gov/submit-concern.
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