Base Evacuation Checklist

Checklist 2 min
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Use this guide when you're managing a base evacuation to ensure you don't skip critical responsibilities.

U.S. military bases may be evacuated due to natural disasters, public safety concerns, widespread illnesses or political unrest. Getting people out of danger is the immediate goal, but keeping commanders, stakeholders and the public informed during the incident is also vitally important. Follow this checklist to keep lines of communication open and ensure all public affairs tasks are carried out during a base evacuation.

  1. Verify the situation with the Emergency Operations Center and Crisis Action Team.
  2. Annotate details of the situation on the accident and incident report.
  3. Contact higher headquarters.
  4. Provide public affairs guidance to the commander within one hour of receiving notice of the event.
  5. Coordinate with destination bases if assets need to be moved.
  6. Contact local officials.
  7. Coordinate with EOC for information pertinent to the initial news release draft, and once approved, disseminate it to the appropriate publics.
  8. Cancel all scheduled or current public affairs events.
  9. Activate the Straight Talk Center or text messaging service within four hours of the incident via answering machine or internet. Provide base personnel with:
    1. Authoritative point of contact.
    2. Accurate information about the status of the accident.
    3. Command’s actions.
    4. The distance from the base that personnel should go to, if required.
  10. Provide the initial base, command, service or Department of Defense position on the breaking news story to the press within four hours of the event if possible. The type and severity of the incident will dictate the level of response. When in doubt about where the response should come from, contact your parent organization's public affairs office.
  11. Document and respond to all media queries within eight hours of the event, where possible.
    1. Clear all responses with the commander before release and use current information that has been cleared for release.
    2. Archive/log all queries.
  12. Prepare a briefing card that includes a list of questions news organizations and the public are likely to ask about the incident. Each question should include:
    1. An answer with information that is known at the time.
    2. Whether and when the information can be released.
    3. An explanation of why the information is not available or when it is expected to be available.
  13. Revise briefing card as needed to reflect new or updated information about the incident.
  14. Publish information to relevant channels at least weekly, or as necessary.
  15. Provide an after action report to HHQ within seven days after the end of the incident, containing:
    1. A chronology of PA actions.
    2. Problems encountered.
    3. Community relations aspects.
    4. Lessons learned.
  16. Consult your social media strategy and decision matrix to determine if, what and where to post.
  17. Consider using During a Crisis: Social Media Strategy Guidelines throughout the crisis.
  18. Document all activities on the events log.

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