Tips for Being Organized for Emergencies
Emergencies come in all shapes and sizes. From a forest fire reaching the city limits to the crash of a computer, each can be considered a disaster relative to the person it affects. In keeping with the theme of National Preparedness Month sponsored by the Ready Campaign, here are a few tips for being organized and prepared for the emergencies in your life:
Have a plan. First, determine the types of emergencies that could happen to you or in your geographic location. This could range from an evacuation due to a hurricane or forest fire, having to seek shelter from a tornado, or needing to find a place to stay overnight because you’re stuck on the wrong side of the Eisenhower Tunnel in a blizzard. On the personal level, it could be a medical emergency of the head of the household or seeing the dreaded blue screen on a computer. Then determine what can be done to be prepared for each of the possible situations. Use ready.gov as a tool to create a plan for each scenario. Have conversations with your loved ones so everyone is on the same page about how to respond when an emergency arises.
Get a kit. We probably all know that there are certain supplies we should have in our car if we get stranded or if we have to evacuate our home, but do we actually have them on hand? If so, has anything expired? Is the kit accessible? It seems hard to prioritize putting an emergency kit together when we have so many other “fires” to deal with in life, but unfortunately, emergencies don’t wait for us to be fully prepared and ready. Utilize the Ready Campaign’s emergency supply checklist to determine what needs to be in your family's kit and schedule a time soon to put everything together or make sure that your kit is up to date.
Back-up and spread out. What would happen if your computer decided to crash today? A new computer can be pricey, but more worrisome is the loss of documents, photos, and records. The good news is that it doesn’t have to break the bank to back-up your information. Consider options such as backing-up to an external hard drive, an online server, or syncing information between two computers. Keep in mind, that it is important to keep your back-up copy and computer in different places. If there is a fire or someone breaks in, what is there to prevent both copies from being destroyed or stolen?
Centralize important information. If the unthinkable happened and you weren’t able to access important information on your own, who would be able to find it? Consider making copies of all critical information and storing it in one place. Make sure to let a trusted person know the location in case it ever needs to be accessed. Products such as Life.doc: Your Life Buttoned Up can be a useful tool for determining what information to gather.
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Ready.gov is a website packed with information and tools on how to be prepared for any type of disaster. On the Be Informed page, users can click on specific types of threats and emergencies and find information on being prepared for each. | | |
For more help with these tips or other organizing and design projects, please contact us!
Best,
Jen Starbuck
Organizing Consultant
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© 2009 Starbuck Life Design, LLC