Four Steps to Emergency Preparedness

Make a Plan

Discuss with your family how you will respond, stay informed, and contact one another during emergency situations in which key services like electricity, water, or first responders may not be available. Once your initial plan has been created, make it a point to discuss it at least once a year and make updates as needed. 

A family plan should include: 

• A designated place to meet if you are separated – outside your home, or nearby.
• A plan to contact one another if you are unable to meet or get separated during a crisis.
• Public safety phone numbers (i.e. police, fire, and hospital) for your area.
• An out-of-area contact to communicate that you are safe and learn the status of the other family members.

To get started with your plan, download a template provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Once your plan is complete, consider laminating a paper copy AND saving an electronic version to a cloud drive and on your phone. That way, it is accessible in a variety of situations.

Build a Kit

Having basic supplies on hand can make a disaster less stressful, and in some cases, the difference between life and death. Assemble an emergency supply kit with enough supplies for everyone in your house for seven days. You don’t have to do it all at once, and it doesn't have to be difficult or expensive.

Start with the basics (i.e. water, food, first aid, and hygiene items) that can fit in a backpack or other portable container. Add to it as you are able (i.e. flashlight, extra batteries, portable charger, blankets, and cash) and consider unique supplies that pertain to different seasons. Understand the unique needs of you and your family and take those into account when building your kit. 

• Download your Emergency Supply Kit Checklist in one of several languages. Click the link to find yours: Emergency Supply Kit Checklist
• Don’t forget your pet's needs.

Know Your Neighbors

Neighbors helping neighbors enhances community resilience and ensures that emergency resources will reach those in the greatest need. If you can help one of your neighbors, that could be one less emergency call that needs to be made. Reducing the strain on emergency services by helping each other can add up to make a big difference in a crisis. All this means that knowing your neighbors and identifying those who might need extra help during a disaster is critical to increasing Austin’s disaster preparedness.

You can prepare yourself and then get involved in the community to encourage disaster preparedness:

• Learn CPR and basic first aid. It may save the life of a loved one or neighbor.
• Take Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training.
• Organize your neighborhood, homeowners’ association, apartment complex, or building to better prepare where you live for a disaster.

You are the help, until help arrives!

Stay Informed

Knowing where you can get reliable information during an emergency is crucial. During a disaster, unreliable websites and social media can have incorrect, out of date, or even false information. It is important to know ahead of time where you will get critical updates about what is going on in the community.

Take the following steps now so you are better informed from reliable sources when disaster strikes:

• Warn Central Texas: Sign up for Warn Central Texas to receive emergency alerts letting you know when you need to take immediate action to stay safe.
• Accessible Hazard Alert System (AHAS): Sign up for accessible emergency alerts in American Sign Language, English voice, and text. These alerts are for people who are Deaf, hard of hearing, Blind, or Deaf and Blind. Sign up for accessible alerts online or by texting AHAS to (737) 241-3710.
• Alerts Page: follow austintexas.gov/alerts for key emergency information in real time in multiple languages.
• Ready Central Texas mobile app: Download for iPhone or Android.

Learn more about staying informed during an emergency.

Emergency Alerts

As a public safety agency, City of Austin’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (Austin HSEM) can alert the public via phone, email, and other methods.

Warn Central Texas

Warn Central Texas is a regional notification system that allows HSEM and other partners of CAPCOG (Capital Area Council of Governments) to notify the public by phone, email and text during times of disasters or public safety events.

All community members in central Texas are encouraged to sign up for Warn Central Texas alerts. Registration is required to get these alerts. Signing up ensures you will receive critical information and also lets you control which methods you use.

• “Reverse 911”
  • You may hear the term “reverse 911” to refer to emergency communications like this. This term can refer to a system where public safety agencies contact members of the public via phone numbers in a database, like Warn Central Texas.
     

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

IPAWS is the national emergency alert system of the United States. IPAWS can only be used by alerting authorities who have gone through FEMA’s authorization process.  As of fall 2025, Austin HSEM is an IPAWS alerting authority.

IPAWS uses standalone technology to alert the community via cell phones, broadcast media, and weather radios, and other methods.

IPAWS messages fall into three main categories:

• Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA):
  • These alerts can reach cell phones based on location and nearest cell tower.
  • You do not need to sign up.
  • Since it uses its own technology, WEAs are not prone to network congestion or other issues that could affect mass notifications.
     
• Emergency Alert System (EAS):
  • EAS allows public safety agencies to broadcast emergency alerts via radio and television stations.
     
• NOAA Weather Radios
  • IPAWS also allows weather alerts to be broadcast via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radios.
  • Austin HSEM recommends keeping a NOAA weather radio in your emergency kit.

Learn more about IPAWS here.