she picked up a plastic phone and held it out to the students.
"The second thing to do is develop a family disaster communication plan," she said.
"What does that mean?" Julia asked.
Mrs. Fletcher explained the students need to know special phone numbers, like their parent's work number and a phone number of someone who lives outside the area.
way, everyone in the family could check in if they were apart from each other when an emergency happened.
"Like if we're playing at a friend's house," volunteered Cassie.
Mrs. Fletcher nodded.
"Or at the movies," said Doug.
Mrs. Fletcher nodded again.
"So now you have two things to do when you get home today," she said.
"Get a family disaster kit and a family disaster communication plan," the students said in unison. They felt better already. Now they knew two important things they could do to prepare.
Mrs. Fletcher took a deep breath. Then she wrote three words on the board: chemical, biological and radiological. She looked at them for a minute before she turned back to the students.
"This isn't easy to talk about," she said.
their teacher began. Chemical weapons were poisons that could be put in the air or the water or on surfaces. Many chemical weapons did not have a smell or a taste. Biological weapons, she went on, were organisms or toxins that kill or injure people, animals or crops. They can be bacteria, viruses or toxins. Radiological or nuclear weapons used radioactive material to harm people.
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