# 2341
While the death toll from Hurricane Ike hovers around 60 nationwide, two weeks after it came ashore on Galveston Island, roughly 400 people still remain unaccounted for.
The video below comes from KHOU - TV and is from a Sept 28th newscast.
Hopefully some of the missing are in shelters somewhere, and simply haven't managed to contract friends or relatives.
Sadly, others are probably victims of the storm. The fear is that an unknown number of people who remained on the barrier islands may have washed out to sea.
Not knowing is a terrible burden for the friends and families of the missing.
One of the tenants of any emergency plan is having a way to contact one-another after a crisis. There should be a standardized meeting place as well.
The following good advice comes from the Ready.gov website.
Make A Plan
Family Emergency Plan
Download the PDF Family Emergency Plan.
Download the XLS Family Emergency Plan.
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Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to plan in advance: how you will contact one another; how you will get back together; and what you will do in different situations.
Family Emergency Plan
- It may be easier to make a long-distance phone call than to call across town, so an out-of-town contact may be in a better position to communicate among separated family members.
- Be sure every member of your family knows the phone number and has coins or a prepaid phone card to call the emergency contact.
- You may have trouble getting through, or the telephone system may be down altogether, but be patient.
Emergency Information
Find out what kinds of disasters, both natural and man-made, are most likely to occur in your area and how you will be notified. Methods of getting your attention vary from community to community. One common method is to broadcast via emergency radio and TV broadcasts. You might hear a special siren, or get a telephone call, or emergency workers may go door-to-door.
Emergency Plans
You may also want to inquire about emergency plans at places where your family spends time: work, daycare and school. If no plans exist, consider volunteering to help create one. Talk to your neighbors about how you can work together in the event of an emergency. You will be better prepared to safely reunite your family and loved ones during an emergency if you think ahead and communicate with others in advance. Read more: School and Workplace.
Preparedness for any emergency, not just a pandemic, needs to become a way of life in our nation.
Disasters happen.
Hang around long enough, and the odds are one will happen near you.
It only makes sense to be prepared for it when it does.
