It seems that every evening the news features a natural disaster or emergency situation. Tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados and house fires are hard to predict, but you can be prepared in terms of evacuation. When the decision is made to leave, you don’t want to waste more than a minute gathering the family’s medicines or trying to find everyone’s birth certificates. Here are some tips for getting organized before an emergency arises:
Have a ‘to go bag’: When rushing to evacuate, time is crucial, so have a ‘to go bag’ ready to grab on your way out. It can be a simple backpack or a light lockbox, but keep it in a central location such as the hall closet or near the entryway. Make sure it has a hard copy of all your backed up documents, a battery powered radio, protein bars, bottled water and small toiletries like deodorant, feminine hygiene products and a small first aid kit. If you are in an area where natural disasters are common, consider including a change of clothes. Check your ‘to go bag’ every 3 months to make sure your documents are up to date and to remove expired products.
Backup Documents: It is crucial to backup ALL important documents in a location that can be accessed from any location. Google Docs and Amazon Cloud are good examples of online places to store documents. Invest in a scanner to copy documents like birth and marriage certificates, insurance policies, medical histories and identification cards. Also print a copy to keep in your ‘to go bag’. Be sure to include a list of prescriptions and a back up list of important phone numbers, like your doctors and insurance agent. Pet owners should include Fluffy and Fido’s information as well. If you are not sure what is considered ‘important’, think about what will be difficult to replace. You can never have too much information backed up!
Remember the Memories: When asked what they would grab first from their burning home (after their family of course), some people say a photo album, scrapbook or home movie. You don’t want to have to make that same decision in a disaster, so begin backing up your memories now. Scan your photos into your computer, then upload them to a site that can be accessed anywhere such as Picasa, Kodak Gallery or Shutterfly. There are many sites that also allow you to upload and store your home movies for a small fee. For people not comfortable saving photos to a website should consider investing in a bank lockbox for safe keeping.
Discussing what will happen in case of an emergency is never fun or easy, but making time to be prepared now will be worth it if the worst case scenario happens. The most important tip is to have a plan and be organized with essential information. For more information on being prepared, visit Ready.gov.
