Disaster preparedness, are you ready?
By wifeofharvey
@wifeofharvey (1156)
United States
May 21, 2007 6:03pm CST
Another discussion got me to thinking on this. How prepared for disaster are you? We have copies of all our important papers in our safety deposit box. We have a 30 day supply of our medications, couple of changes of clothes, blankets, some food and water, and a few basic tools in our vehicle. Oh, for those wondering why its all in our vehicle---we are not only older, but I am mobility handicapped, if evacuation is on foot, I am not able to go.
Many people have that kind of preparedness, but how about other things. I have scanned things like insurance policies, medical info and other things. I have also scanned photos, and about anything else I can manage to scan, including lists and pics of all insured household items, most things with a ruler or something to show the size. All of this is on cd's and stored in the deposit box.
Sooooooooo, are you ready for disaster???
1 person likes this
5 responses
@erminiasanjose (1588)
• Philippines
1 Jun 07
We have sort of preparedness for any disaster that may arise. But no amount of preparedness is effective in what happened to a community somewhere in Leyte, Philippines, sometime in 2006. The whole place was buried and there were but few survivors and those who were not at the place at that time. May this not happen again anywhere in the world. We should always be prepared for any bad thing that may happen.
@wifeofharvey (1156)
• United States
1 Jun 07
You are certainly correct that we can never be totally preparred.
All we can do is get as ready as we can. My hubby and I have plans for both sheltering in place, and for evacuation. But,as said, we can't always be preparred.
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
4 Jul 07
Honestly, we are not all that prepared on a constant basis. Hurricanes are really the only threat where we live so we usually have days of warning ahead of time if it looks like one might head our way (which doens't happen very often). During the hurricane season, we do have have a bare essentials kit ready in the pantry, and if it looks like one might turn towards us, we pack some bags and have them ready, just in case.
I really like your idea of scanning and taking pictures of your documents and items and saving them on CD. With those little flash drives being so cheap and easy to carry, that is another idea for saving and transporting the information.
1 person likes this
@wifeofharvey (1156)
• United States
4 Jul 07
Yes, love those little flash drives too.
We live on the Texas Gulf Coast and usually hurricanes are our main worry too. I am sure you are already aware that hurricanes spawn tornados. But as I am typing this I am listening to our local news cast, the main story tonight is weather, rain in particular, there is a lot of flooding going on around us. So there can be that problem too. Stay safe.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
22 May 07
we have everything of importance by the door, and we are on the bottom floor, so it is all a two second pick up. I don't have a car like you though, but the suitcase has important papers in it.
1 person likes this
@wifeofharvey (1156)
• United States
22 May 07
Sounds like a good plan, it shows you have at least tried and made preperations. So sad about all the people who never give it a thought at all.
@luzamper (1357)
• Philippines
6 Jun 07
We should always be ready really for any disaster, be it earthquake, flash floods, storm, etc. especially those whose areas are prone to disasters. Last year, the Philippines suffered so much from many kinds of disasters and up to now those affected have not as yet recovered.
@maehan (1439)
• United States
9 Aug 07
Hi wifeofharvey, I like this discussion. Truely, I am not prepare for natural disaster. As I came from a country that is free of disaster. I probably not even know what to do and how to do it. Luckily, my sons are taught in school on how to react if there is an earthquake, terrorist etc.
Till recently, I received a booklet from the apartment management that guide us how to react on various disaster and things that we should prepared.
And, I am still figuring out on getting all the required stuff and educating my children on these.
