Active shooter: A person who shoots or tries to shoot people.
Alert: A signal, sound, or other sign that warns of an emergency.
All clear: A message from emergency officials that the danger is over.
Bee CALM Backpack: A collection of materials, such as playdough, stress balls, puppets, crayons, and paper, that help children feel calmer and more secure during an emergency.
Continuity of services: Restarting services and support to children and families after a disruptive event. Families may need help with learning activities, child care, mental health, nutrition, housing, employment, and access to health care to help families and communities recover as soon as possible.
Disaster: A significant event that may cause severe property damage and injuries.
Disease outbreak: A higher-than-expected number of cases of an infectious disease in a specific location and time.
Drills: A way to practice a response to an emergency to make sure everyone knows what to do.
Drop, cover, and hold on: Recommended actions to protect yourself from injury during an earthquake. This means you should drop to the ground, take cover under something sturdy like a table, and hold on until the shaking stops. If there is nothing sturdy available, then cover your head and neck with your hands and arms for protection.
Emergency: A sudden and unexpected event needing action at once to make sure children and adults are safe.
Emergency preparedness: Procedures you plan to make sure you are safe before, during, and after an emergency. A comprehensive disaster preparedness plan covers the disasters and emergencies most likely to happen and less likely events, like acts of violence in or near programs.
Emergency preparedness task force: A group that includes staff and partners who can help determine your program’s risks, vulnerabilities, and resources. This may include staff, administrators, facilities managers, families, mental health professionals, public health officials, emergency services workers, and representatives from your local school district and your local emergency management agency. The task force gets the information you need to write your comprehensive disaster preparedness plan and reviews and advises on any changes to the plan.
Emergency management agency: The purpose of an emergency management agency is to help states and territories protect lives and save property during an emergency. The Office of Emergency Management in the Bureau of Indian Affairs helps Tribes in disasters and emergencies.
Emergency supply kit: A collection of supplies that programs and families may need in an emergency and that they can take if they evacuate. Emergency supply kits have items such as food, water, medicine, clothing, diapers, wipes, and emergency contact information. Plan to have enough supplies for a short time (six hours) and for a longer time (72 hours). Programs in hard-to-reach areas may need supplies for even longer.
Epidemic: A sudden increase in cases of a disease in a short time.
Evacuation: Evacuation involves leaving your building and gathering in a predetermined spot outside until it is safe to re-enter the building.
First responder: A person, such as fire, law enforcement, or emergency medical personnel, who helps during an emergency.
Go-bag: See Emergency supply kit
Hazard assessment: Identifying which disasters are most likely to happen at your facility and in your community.
Intruder: Someone who shouldn’t be in the building, classroom, or playground and won’t leave. Intruders may or may not become hostile or violent.
Lockdown: A procedure that is used when intruders or emergencies may become violent. Lockdowns, also known as stay safe procedures, need children and adults to take shelter in a safe area, lock doors, and stay quiet until the event is over.
Mitigation: The effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters or emergencies. Mitigation works best when programs act before an emergency.
Pandemic: A health emergency when an infectious disease spreads across several countries and affects many people. Pandemics may happen when a new virus emerges and spreads when most people do not have immunity to fight the disease.
Preparedness: Making plans to respond to emergencies before they happen. Preparedness includes being informed about likely emergencies in your area, fixing problems in the facility that could make an emergency worse, and creating and restocking supply kits you will have with you during an emergency.
Recovery: What happens as soon as the emergency is over to help everyone cope with the results of the disaster. The first recovery efforts focus on restoring access to food, water, shelter, and the safety of those affected. Recovery continues through to repairing, rebuilding, and resuming normal routines.
Relocation: A move to an alternate site away from the primary facility to keep children safe until they can be reunited with their families.
Response: Emergency response begins when an emergency starts and continues until it is over. This is when you put your emergency preparedness plans into action.
Reunification: Bringing children and their families together after an emergency.
Shelter-in-place: When you must stay in place for protection or shelter in an enclosed room and close all doors, windows, and vents. You may need to shelter in place in tornadoes, earthquakes, severe weather, landslides, debris flow, or an air quality emergency.
Stay safe procedures: Stay safe procedures prepare teachers and other program staff to stay calm, take control, and support children and adults when someone is on your grounds who doesn’t belong in your facility, classroom, or playground. Stay safe procedures for an intruder or active shooter may include leaving the building, or locking or barricading the doors, keeping quiet, and staying out of sight.
Tabletop exercises: Preparedness activities where staff assigned to emergency roles discuss disasters, so they understand their roles and responsibilities and how to work as a team.
Tornado-safe position: A position that keeps you and children safe during a tornado. You get low to the ground, cover your head, and, if there are infants in your program, center, or home, hold them close to you and protect their heads.
Trauma: Trauma happens when frightening events or situations overwhelm a person’s ability to cope with what has happened. Disasters can lead to trauma for children and families, including displacement, loss of home and personal property, changes in schools, economic hardship, loss of community and social supports, and even the injury and death of loved ones.
Unhealthy air quality: Air quality is based on the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI). For example, at AQI values of 101 to 150, the air is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as the elderly, children, and people with heart and lung disease. An AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality.
Warnings: Emergency messages issued when a hazard that threatens life or property is happening, is about to happen, or has a very high probability of happening.
Watch: An emergency message issued when the risk of a hazard has increased significantly, but its occurrence, location, or timing is still uncertain. It is intended to give enough time for people to start carrying out their emergency plans.
Last Updated: June 5, 2025