The Five Steps

Step 1 - Define Your Area

Identify a manageable area: your apartment building, one city block, a few small surrounding streets, etc. that you can organize with relative ease.

Step 2 - Recruit Leaders

Develop a team of leaders who can help build the plan and carry out emergency support activities when the time comes. You will need capable, competent people who will be able to serve and direct your fellow neighbors during a disaster.

Step 3 - Scout Your Area

Get to know the lay of the land: What resources you have available, what the landscape is, and disasters or other emergencies that are common to your area.

1. Step 3b - Scout Your Area - Chart It Out

   Chart and rate the specific threats that your neighborhood might experience.

2. Step 3c - Scout Your Area - Mapping is Key

   Add details to the map made during step one.

Step 4 - Build Your Team

In order to carry out a productive and effective response in the event of an emergency, you need a team of people as invested in helping their neighbors and community as you are.

1. Step 4b - Build Your Team - Meeting Time

   You've got your team, you've got your leaders, and the next step is to hold a meeting.

2. Step 4c - Build Your Team - Phone Trees

   When working with your team, your leaders and other participants in your neighborhood disaster planning process, it's very important to have some sort of communications system in place, a way for neighbors to inform other neighbors of key updates, directions or instructions during a disaster. A phone tree is on great way to do this.

Step 5 - Plan Your Approach

Learn about what to do first in an emergency.

1. Step 5b - Plan Your Approach - Incident Command

   Learn more about incident command.

2. Step 5c - Plan Your Approach - Put it in Writing

   Write up everything in a basic format that describes the scope of your plan, including risks, threats, your detailed neighborhood map of your defined area and your basic approach to the disaster response.