Disaster Scenarios

Some of these scenarios are to emphasize preparing for the emergency and others are to discuss possible responses.

Fire – middle of the night, smoke alarms go off, what do you do?

a.       Your home, you smell smoke, and children are in bed

b.      Your gone,  children are home with a babysitter?

c.       You have several young children and a disabled older person?

d.      Where’s your phone?

Fire – public place like a theatre, lights go out, you smell smoke, you have small children with you, crowd begins to panic.

a.       Are you close to an exit

b.      Do you wait for the crowd

c.       Are there two types of exits, the way you came in or the exit to the parking lot

d.      Do you have a flashlight?

Earthquake – at home, broken glass, lights out

a.       Stay or go, shoes/slippers, flashlight, furniture falling

b.      Children, shoes/slippers, flashlight, furniture falling

c.       Your not home, only a babysitter

d.      Your not home, you have teenagers at home

Earthquake – at home, structural damage, broken glass

a.       Now you faintly smell gas

b.      Or there is water leaking from the ceiling

c.       Your not home, only a babysitter

d.      Your not home,  you have teenagers at home

Power outage at night.

a.       Flashlights, shoes/slippers

b.      Power out for 3 days due to blown transformer

c.       Power out for 6 days due to down power lines

d.      What to do about food in freezer and refrigerator.

Regional Emergency – and you are at work, and children at school.

a.       Your too far away, or your vehicle is disabled, or all vehicles are disabled due to bridge out.

b.      Do you have backups locally?

c.       What if you can’t reach anybody, because phones don’t work?

Regional Emergency – major disaster, evacuations pending, no fuel available, no markets open, and  electricity out.

a.       Stay or go?

b.      Go where, how far can you go?

c.       Food and water?

d.      What to take?

Your family is on vacation and in a remote location when you have car trouble in the middle of the night.

a.       No flashlight, no tools, no phone signal

b.      If you are on a busy highway

Major disaster at a public location, lots of injuries, but your ok.

a.       Do you leave or stay and try to help?

b.      What if you have small children with you?

Riot breaks out at a public place or following a championship game

a.       Your car is on the other side of the rioting, the venue is safe for now.

b.      You have small children with you

Street thugs are approaching your group while out for a walk after dinner in a downtown area.

a.       Are you mentally aware of your surroundings

b.      Are you distracted or appear to be vulnerable, are you an easy target

c.       You have children with you and one member of your group  is isolated and distracted

Vehicle operators not paying full attention

a.       Your in a parking lot with your children, one car approaches and person is on phone

b.      Another car approaches from the other direction and is looking for a parking space

c.       Your children are running around and distracting you

Pedestrian Not Paying Attention while around moving vehicles

a.       Pedestrian crossing street in cross walk on green light, while listening to music with head down.

b.      Mother at CH Elementary crossing from parking lot to school with eyes down and phone on ear, and line of cars moving thru to pick up children.

c.       Joggers with music in both ears while running in traffic

d.      Pedestrian in crosswalk asserting right to cross against a car whose driver is not paying attention

Your family is visiting a relative in another town, your children are playing down the street at someones house

a.       A child finds a gun and shows it to your children

b.      What are your children  trained to do?

A group of neighborhood children are playing together and they come to your house with your children.

a.       One child has a backpack and pulls out a gun to show the group

b.      What are your children trained to do?

c.       They bring it to you and you are afraid of guns. What do you do?

Burglary or Break and Entry

a.        door ajar, strange car out front, you arrive home

b.       your at home in bed

c.       These people want things, you have insurance

d.      The have pry bars, screwdrivers, and maybe a gun for a weapon (defensive)

e.      If you confront with a gun, it could change into a gunfight

Home invasion, someone wants you or something you have, and they have weapons

a.       Your at home and defenseless

b.      Your at home with weapons

c.       Bad business deal

d.      Psycho boyfriend/girlfriend

e.      Did something to them and their back for revenge