Print this, fill it in with whoever you live with, and keep it somewhere you could find it in the dark. It takes ten minutes and it is the single most useful thing a household can do.
If you or anybody else is in danger, ring 999.
If it is not safe to go out
- GO IN — get indoors and close the windows and doors.
- STAY IN — stay there until you are told otherwise.
- TUNE IN — local radio carries what the emergency services want people to know. A car radio works in a power cut; a smart speaker does not.
Who lives here
Everybody in the house, and anything somebody helping would need to know — medication, a hearing aid, a dog that will not come to a stranger.
Where we would meet
One place close by, in case you cannot get back into the house, and one further away in case you cannot get back to the street.
Neighbours we would check on, and who would check on us
Names and doors. The first hour is neighbours, whatever else is arranged.
Where things are
The stopcock, the fuse box, the gas tap, a torch, spare keys, the pet carrier. Somebody else in the house should know too.
Numbers we would want
Doctor, vet, school, insurer, the person who would come. Write them here as well as in a telephone — a telephone with a flat battery is a torch you cannot ring anybody with.
Numbers the council keeps
Kept up to date on the website, so this sheet has whatever was current when you printed it.
- Dumfries and Galloway Council — out of hours
- Scottish Water — emergencies
- SEPA Floodline
Worth having in one bag
- A wind-up or battery torch, and a wind-up or battery radio
- Any medicine somebody here cannot do without, and a note of what it is
- Spare glasses
- Water, and food that does not need cooking
- A first aid kit
- Copies of insurance papers and important documents
- Cash — card machines do not work in a power cut
- Spare keys for the house and the car
- Something for the pets, and a carrier
- Something for a child to do
- A charged power bank, and the cable for it