The Cabinet Office resilience website is packed full of useful hints and tips for the general public on how you can help yourself and your family in emergencies.

A lot of this information is based on common sense advice and may seem obvious or familiar to you, but it has saved lives in the past.

In a major emergency, if you are not involved in the incident, but are close by, or believe you may be in danger, the best advice is to go inside a safe building, stay inside until you are advised to do otherwise, and tune in to local radio or TV for information.

Of course, there are always going to be particular occasions when you should not 'go in', for example if there is a fire, or you are advised differently by the emergency services or your own common sense.

Useful websites

Here is a list of other websites that provide a range of information relating to emergencies:

• Cabinet Office
• Staffordshire Prepared
• Environment Agency
• UK Government
• Victims of Terrorism

Local radio stations

Here is a list of local radio stations that you could tune in to for information in the event of an emergency:

• BBC Derby 104.5 FM
• BBC Stoke 94.6 FM
• BBC West Midlands 95.6 FM
• Beacon Radio 97.2 FM
• Centre FM 101.6 FM
• Heart FM 100.7 FM
• Kerrang 105.2 FM
• Saga Radio 105.7 FM
• Signal Radio 102.6 FM