IRP stands for Immediate Rally Point. This is a point outside of your home where your family can gather if they have to evacuate the house for some reason. The most likely reason for this would be if there was a fire. It needs to be a place that’s easily identifiable and not far from the house and everyone can find in the dark.
It’s also the place where your A-Team/Survival Group will rendezvous if they can’t go into the house for whatever reason, but need to assemble from other locations, such as school and/or work.
A street intersection near the home works well. Or a neighbor’s home.
ERP stands for Emergency Rally Point. It is where everyone will assemble if they can’t get to the IRP or home. This is also where your A-Team/Survival Group will rendezvous if they have to evacuate the home/work/school during a moderate or extreme emergency and have to stay for at least a day or more, with the possibility of not returning to the home.
We need to consider when you would use it. The most likely scenario is if there is an event where you can’t get to your home or to the IRP near your home. A flood, wildfire, earthquake, etc. could cause this.
Thus, you need a location where your A-Team will meet. This place is where they will automatically go even if there is no communication. After major disasters, many people rue that they didn’t have such a spot picked out because they spent many hours and even days separated and wondering about each other’s status.
There are no hard and fast rules when you should utilize the ERP. Every situation is going to be different. The key is at the very least choose the ERP and make sure everyone knows where it is. It cannot be picked after the emergency has begun.
You can choose the house of a friend/relative that is out of the immediate area of your home. Someone’s school or work place.
Choose the ERP based on the Area Study you’ve just done. If your most likely threat is tsunami, you’d pick an ERP out of range of that event. The same with a flood. It should be out of the range of the most likely threats, yet a point where everyone in your A-Team can get to.
There are apps that can be used to help locate family members; however, like every other thing associated with your cell phone they require power, cell coverage, etc. Be sure to make sure these apps work and that they are installed on all phones. Be aware that some can be heavy draws on battery life if active. Each has pros and cons so do a little research. I use Road ID on a daily basis when out biking or kayaking, just in case. I like that it will send a notification to my emergency contact if I am stationery for more than a designated period or pass an overall time limit, along with tracking my location.
Road ID Here is their home page with links to both Apple and Android along with information on how the app works. https://www.roadid.com/pages/road-id-app
Life 360 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.life360.android.safetymapd
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/life360-family-tracker/id384830320?mt=8
Sygic Family locator
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/sk/app/family-locator-gps-tracker/id588364107?mt=8
BOHS stands for Bug Out Hide Site and is only for extreme emergencies where you’ve left your home and don’t plan on coming back. It refers to being on the move and also wherever you may stop, either temporarily or permanently, depending on the extent of the emergency and threats. When to make the decision to ‘bug out’ will be covered in another blog post.
The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)
The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also in Kindle Unlimited.
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