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What to do

General guidance that holds almost anywhere. In an emergency, instructions from local authorities always come before this page.

Call for help

Choose a country to see its emergency numbers.

Earthquake

Without warning. Aftershocks follow for days.

Do this

  1. Drop to your hands and knees, cover your head and neck, and hold on to something sturdy.
  2. Stay where you are until the shaking stops. Most injuries happen while moving.
  3. Outside, move to open ground away from buildings, walls and power lines.
  4. Near the coast, once shaking stops, go to high ground at once. Do not wait for a warning.

Never

  • Do not run outside or use stairs while the ground is shaking.
  • Do not use a lift.
  • Do not go back into a damaged building for belongings.

Flood

During heavy rain, and after rain upstream even where it is dry.

Do this

  1. Move to higher ground as soon as water starts rising. Do not wait to be told.
  2. Take medicine, documents and a charged phone if they are already to hand.
  3. Switch off electricity at the mains if you can do it without touching water.
  4. Follow river and flood warnings from your national weather or disaster agency.

Never

  • Do not walk through moving water. Ankle-deep flow can knock an adult down.
  • Do not drive into flood water. Half a metre floats most cars.
  • Do not shelter in a basement or ground-floor room.

Landslide

During and after heavy rain, on and below steep slopes.

Do this

  1. Move sideways out of the path, then uphill, away from the slide.
  2. Leave at once if you see new cracks in the ground or walls, or tilting trees and poles.
  3. Treat a stream that suddenly turns muddy or stops flowing as a warning.
  4. A rumble that grows louder means debris is already moving. Move across the slope.

Never

  • Do not sleep below a steep slope during heavy rain.
  • Do not cross a fresh slide. More material usually follows.
  • Do not go back to clear debris while rain continues.

Cyclone, hurricane or typhoon

Forecast days ahead. The warning is the time to act.

Do this

  1. Follow evacuation orders as soon as they are given.
  2. If staying, shelter in the strongest room, away from windows.
  3. Keep water, food, medicine, a torch and a charged phone ready.
  4. Wait for an official all-clear before going outside.

Never

  • Do not go out when the wind suddenly drops. It may be the eye, and the wind returns from the other side.
  • Do not go near the shore to watch the sea.
  • Do not touch fallen power lines.

Wildfire

Hot, dry and windy days. Fires can move faster than people run.

Do this

  1. Leave early when authorities advise it. Waiting is what traps people.
  2. Close windows and doors behind you, and wear long cotton or wool clothing.
  3. If you cannot leave, shelter in a solid building away from the approaching fire.
  4. Call your local emergency number if you see a fire that has not been reported.

Never

  • Do not try to outrun a fire uphill.
  • Do not drive through smoke you cannot see through.
  • Do not go back for belongings.

Extreme heat

Heat waves, especially when nights stay hot.

Do this

  1. Drink water regularly, before you feel thirsty.
  2. Stay in the coolest place you can during the hottest hours.
  3. Check on older neighbours, young children and anyone living alone.
  4. Confusion, hot dry skin or collapse is heatstroke. Call your local emergency number and cool the person with water.

Never

  • Do not leave anyone, or any animal, in a parked vehicle.
  • Do not do hard physical work in the midday heat.

Lightning

Afternoon storms, especially over open ground and water.

Do this

  1. Go inside a building or a hard-topped vehicle as soon as you hear thunder.
  2. If thunder follows a flash within 30 seconds, the storm is close enough to strike.
  3. Wait 30 minutes after the last thunder before going back out.
  4. Caught in the open, get off ridges and away from isolated tall trees.

Never

  • Do not shelter under a lone tree or beside a metal pole.
  • Do not stay in water or on a boat.

House fire

Most often from cooking, gas cylinders and electrical faults.

Do this

  1. Get everyone out first, then call your local emergency number.
  2. Stay low, below the smoke, on the way out.
  3. Close doors behind you to slow the fire.
  4. Feel a door with the back of your hand before opening it.

Never

  • Do not go back inside for anything.
  • Do not throw water on a cooking-oil or gas fire.

Snakebite

Mostly at night and in the rainy season, in and around houses and fields.

Do this

  1. Keep the person still and calm. Movement spreads venom faster.
  2. Keep the bitten limb still and at or below heart level. Remove rings and bangles.
  3. Call your local emergency number and get to a hospital that stocks antivenom immediately.
  4. Note the time of the bite. Drooping eyelids or trouble breathing are an emergency.

Never

  • Do not cut the wound or try to suck out venom.
  • Do not apply a tight tourniquet, ice or herbs.
  • Do not wait for symptoms before travelling.

Keep a bag ready

Packed so that anyone in the house can carry it out in seconds.

  • Drinking water, and a way to make more safe to drink
  • Food that needs no cooking, for three days
  • Torch, spare batteries and a charged power bank
  • First aid kit and a week of any regular medicine
  • Copies of identity and property documents in a waterproof bag
  • A whistle, so you can be found if trapped
  • Some cash in small notes
  • Sturdy shoes and a dust mask near your bed

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Facility details come from OpenStreetMap and are incomplete in many places, so some have no published number. To find them, your location is rounded to about 1 km before it is sent, and it is not stored.

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