Emergency Preparedness Guide

Prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters. Police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover. 


Be prepared in the event an emergency causes you to be self-reliant for three days without utilities and electricity, water service, access to a supermarket or local services, or maybe even without response from police, fire, or rescue. 

Preparation Steps

Preparing can start with four important steps:

1. Be Informed: Be informed about emergencies that could happen in your community and identify sources of information in your community that will be helpful before, during, and after an emergency. Register with AlertOC to receive emergency notifications in Yorba Linda. Access Ready.gov to learn what to do before, during, and after an emergency.

2. Make a Plan: Discuss, agree on, and document an emergency plan with those in your care. You will want to consider to create a Family Communications Plan, a plan to Shelter-in-Place, a plan on how you will Get-Away, and Emergency Plans at School and Work. View a sample Family Communications Plan (PDF), or download the Get Ready brochure (PDF) on additional plans.

3. Build a Kit: Keep enough emergency supplies - water, non-perishable food, first aid, prescriptions, flashlight, and battery-powered radio on hand - for you and those in your care.  Be prepared to improvise and use what you have on hand to make it on your own for at least three days, maybe longer. While there are many things that might make you more comfortable, think first about fresh water, food and clean air.

4. Get Involved: There are many ways to get involved especially before a disaster occurs. The whole community can participate in programs and activities to make their families, homes, and places of worship safer from risks and threats. After preparing yourself and your family for possible emergencies, take the next step and get involved in preparing your community. Learn more about the City's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), a program designed to train community volunteers in basic disaster response skills.