Be Ready

You don’t need any special equipment to be better prepared. A few simple conversations and a little planning go a long way.

1. Make a family plan

• Pick a meeting place close to home, and one outside your neighborhood in case you can’t get back.
• Choose an out-of-area contact. During a local emergency it’s often easier to reach someone far away. Everyone in the family checks in with that person.
• Write important numbers down on paper. If your phone dies, you won’t be able to look them up.
• Know your neighbors. Find out who nearby might need a hand, such as older neighbors, new parents, or anyone relying on medical equipment.

2. Keep your devices charged

• Keep a charged battery pack or two on hand, and recharge them after every use.
• A car charger can top up a phone during an outage. Never run a car or generator inside a garage or near open windows.
• Text messages often get through when calls won’t. Keep messages short.

3. Stay informed

• Sign up for free emergency alerts from NY-Alert.
• Keep a battery-powered or hand-crank radio for local news and weather.
• Follow your town and county’s official emergency updates.

4. Build a simple kit

The essentials for a few days at home: water (about a gallon per person per day), food that doesn’t need cooking, medications, flashlights, extra batteries, warm layers and blankets, and a first-aid kit. Ready.gov has a complete checklist.

5. Learn about the community network

The WNYMesh community network lets people send short text messages through a chain of neighborhood radios when phones and internet aren’t working. Come to an event to see it in action, or visit WNYMeshCore to learn how to join.