Get ready

The following actions will help you to be prepared for any potential disaster:

• Prepare or update your Household Emergency Plan and make sure everyone in your household understands what will happen in an emergency situation. This should include emergency contacts and meeting places in the event that you are separated from your family or you cannot return home. Keep a list of emergency phone numbers stored in your mobile phone and on display.
• Prepare or check your Emergency Kit and make sure it is stocked. Include some basic materials that can assist with emergency repairs such as masking tape and plastic sheeting or large garbage bags, rope, timber strips, hammers and nails. If you have a traditional landline phone (non-portable), store this in your Emergency Kit for use when you lose power.
• Prepare or update your Evacuation Plan / Kit
• Make sure vehicles have a full tank of fuel and/or you have additional fuel stored in jerry cans.
• Teach children how and when to call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency.
• Encourage your children to play the Get Ready Queensland Challenge
• Don’t forget your neighbours who may need assistance
• Prepare your pets – plan how you will look after your pets. Make sure all pets have collars and tags with up-to-date contact information
• Make sure your insurance is current and enough to cover your home and contents, including clean-up and debris removal. It’s a good idea to take photographs of your home and possessions.  Keep copies of any insurance documentation away from the home as well, maybe at work or with a family member or friend.
• Ensure your house number is clearly displayed so that emergency service crews can find you.
• Find out how and where to turn off power, gas and water supplies and ensure your home has a safety switch installed. Install a surge protector in your home to protect sensitive electronic equipment.

For information on preparing for disasters in other languages, click here.

How do you keep up-to-date with warnings?

• Monitor Council’s Disaster Dashboard or follow Council’s Facebook page for local updates.
• Emergency Alert is the national telephone warning system used by emergency services to send voice messages to landlines and text messages to mobile phones within a defined area, about likely or actual emergencies.
• Be aware of the media outlets that broadcast emergency warnings and if you have a smartphone, install a few useful weather and emergency apps. The Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS) is used when lives may be at risk. However, you should not expect that detailed information will be available via these avenues every time.
• Emergency Services may use sirens and loud-hailer announcements in certain circumstances.
• Emergency Services personnel may door-knock your local area to pass on warnings.