Create an emergency plan for your household

Where should you collect your children?

• You should know your school's emergency plan and the location you need to collect your children.
• If the school is in a tsunami zone, don't rush to the school to pick up your child after an earthquake. Speak to your school now to understand their evacuation plan.
• Check your school or ECE's wesbite for their emergency plan.

Who will collect your children?

• Arrange at least three friends or family members within walking distance of the school to collect your children for you, in case you can't get to them. Give their names to your school.
• Talk with your children about what they could expect and who could collect them if you can’t get there.

Start by having a conversation with your household and decide on a place to meet.

• Agree where you would go if you couldn't go home or to your meeting place.
• If you work or go to school in different places, consider how you will reconnect with each other.
• Identify friends or family that you could stay with if you couldn't go home.

• Most people are under-insured for their home and contents. After the Christchurch earthquake, insurers in New Zealand moved from a full replacement model to a sum-insured model.
• Make sure that your home and your possessions are insured for the right amount. Contact your insurer to discuss this.
  
  Read about disaster insurance (eqc.govt.nz)

• You might have to leave home in a hurry and be unable to return, or walk a long distance to get home from work. Think about what items you will need, then put together a grab bag. You can do this yourself and it doesn’t have to be expensive.
• You need to be able to grab a bag with basic essentials to get you through the next few hours or days. A pair of walking shoes, jacket, water, and snacks are a good start.
• Learn more about Grab bags

• Find your gas main valve (if you have gas), main power switch, water toby, and learn how to turn them off.
• Mark them clearly so you can find them quickly and tell others in your household what to do. Damaged utilities (gas, electric and water) can be dangerous and prevent you from staying in your home. For example, having a fire extinguisher in your household could help prevent small fires from becoming a big fire.

Read more about how to prevent a fire, following an earthquake.

Your neighbours are your first and best source of support in an emergency. If you haven't already connected with people on your street, swapping contact details in case of an emergency is a good conversation starter.

Meet your neighbours

After you have checked on your household and neighbours, you can go to your local Community Emergency Hub. This is a place where people in your neighbourhood can support each other and work out what to do next.

Find out more about Community Emergency Hubs.

Record the frequency for your local radio stations in your emergency plan.

View a list of Radio New Zealand's (RNZ) list of radio station frequencies (rnz.co.nz)