Preparing Your Pet For Disaster, Installment #2

In celebration of National Disaster Preparedness Month, Companions For Life is continuing our series of short weekly articles to guide you through preparing your pets - and your family - for a disaster.

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Week #2 – Identifying Available Resources

Now that you have your family plan and know where your personal meeting places will be and who is responsible for children and pets, you need to put together a list of phone numbers and resources you’ll need. You don’t want to waste time trying to find a phone book or searching the web in the event of a disaster. You need to know what city/county/state officials are what precautions to take, whether to shelter in place or prepare for evacuation, where the local shelters are, and you need to be able to let others know where you are.

Start by making a list of phone number of people and agencies that you would want to communicate with in the event of an emergency. Be sure to include family, close friends and neighbors, family doctor, banks, employers, schools, as well as police, fire, ambulance, and poison control. Don’t forget your vet, a list of area emergency animal clinics (if you live in the Dallas area, the Metroplex Animal Coalition website has already prepared a list - http://www.metroplexanimalcoalition.com/helpfulInfo/emergencyInfo.html), the animal poison control center, local boarding facilities and kennels, and your area animal control agencies (in the Metroplex, you can find a complete list on the C+C Pets Magazine website at http://www.ccpets.com/shelters.htm.

Find out which local TV and Radio station you will turn to and pre-program them into a battery operated radio or television if possible (radio news and talk stations are usually great resources as disasters develop). Get a weather radio – many now alert not only to weather related warnings, but also for Amber alerts, law enforcement warnings, nuclear and radiological hazard warnings, earthquakes, and civil dangers.

Take the time now to find and bookmark the websites for your city and county emergency operations centers and your state office of emergency management. Familiarize yourself with your state’s evacuation plan, find out if your state has a SART (State Animal Resource Team), check your State Veterinary Medical Association website, and don’t forget to bookmark national emergency websites, too.

Below are some links to get you started -

Dallas disaster resources:

Dallas County Office of Emergency Management:
http://www.dallascounty.org/department/osem/osem_intro.html
City of Dallas Office of Emergency Management
http://www.dallascityhall.com/oem/index.html
Red Cross Dallas Chapter
http://www.redcrossdallas.org/

Texas disaster resources:

Texas Governor’s Division of Emergency Management - http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/pages/index.htm
Texas Evacuation Plan - http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/pages/downloadableforms.htm
Texas Extension Disaster Education Network – http://texashelp.tamu.edu/
Texas State Animal Resource Team - http://www.txsart.org/
Texas Veterinary Medical Association http://www.tvma.org/

National disaster resources:

FEMA – http://www.fema.gov/
Department of Homeland Security - http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm
National Weather Service - http://www.nws.noaa.gov/

Be informed – in knowledge is power.

Next week - Preparing Your Pet Emergency Kit