My good friends, a couple I went to high school with, live
within a few miles of my home.
Their house is situated in the mouth of a beautiful little canyon whose
environs include wild grasses, various brush plants, along with scrub oak and
juniper trees. It is a beautiful
setting and in recent years many people have chosen to build big beautiful
homes there. This summer, a car
parked near some dry grass at one of the residences innocently threw a spark
when it was started. Our unusually
hot, dry summer had produced very dry grass and brush. The little spark soon exploded into a
raging fire that tore through the mouth of the canyon and the adjoining
mountainside. Within minutes, all
of the residents of the area had to be evacuated. They were given only a few minutes to gather their
belongings and try to evacuate any animals they kept. Fortunately, the winds were not blowing in the direction of
my friends’ home and while several homes were destroyed and others damaged,
they were able to survive the fire unscathed.
In talking to my friends about this event, they mentioned
that this was the third time over the past few years that they had been
evacuated under similar circumstances. They said that the first time, given
only a few minutes to evacuate, their attempt was totally chaotic. When the allotted time was up they left
their home not knowing if they had taken all of the important items. They had no plan and therefore were
unable to get things together in an efficient manner.
If you had 15 – 30 minutes to get all of the important and
irreplaceable items out of your home what would you take? Would you have to spend part of that
valuable time identifying what items are important and irreplaceable? Then, could you easily gather them in a
short period of time? Could you
think straight in that type of a situation? A major portion of the items a person needs to gather in an
emergency are documents pertaining to your family, finances, property and
day-to-day life. Often they are
not organized in one location and can take a lot of time to assemble.
Important Documents and Information
- Marriage certificate
- Birth Certificates
- Passports
- Photographs of all family members
- Credit cards
- Drivers License
- Deeds and titles
- Bank account numbers and information
- Legal documents
- Investment Information
- Loan Information
- Tax papers
- Family medical information including doctors names, phone numbers
- A list of the names of prescription drugs and dosages taken by family members
- Immunization records
- Phone numbers for emergency contacts
- Money
- Computer backup disks
Obviously, this is a lot to
think about in 15 - 30 minutes.
How can you simplify and organize your records?
Make an Emergency
Evacuation Document File
- Purchase an inexpensive accordion file
- Label file sections: Important phone contacts, Banking Information, Insurance Information, Credit Card Information, Loan Information, Tax Information, Investment Information, Medical Information, Legal Documents, Personal Documents (Deeds, Titles, etc.), Computer Backup Disks, Family Identification Photos, Emergency Money
- Fill the file with your documents and information or copies (you may want to keep the originals in a Safe Deposit Box in a Bank)
- Keep a budgeted amount of emergency money in the file
- Keep this file in a secure location in your home, but one where family members can easily retrieve it if the necessity arises.
In an emergency evacuation every minute counts. Give yourself the extra time you may
need by preparing and Emergency Evacuation Document File now before you need
it. It will not only give you time
to save more of your important and irreplaceable items but it will make life
during and after the evacuation more comfortable for you and your family.
Preserving Old and New
Family Photos
When ever possible, I scan old family photos and save them
on a disk. I keep a copy of these
disks at home and also keep one in a Safe Deposit Box at my bank. I have even heard of people going one
step farther and giving another copy to a relative for safekeeping. Many times these old photos are the
only existing copy and they are irreplaceable. By scanning them onto a disk you can give yourself peace of
mind and keep them all together in a compact unit. Likewise, when printing current photos, I have the photo
processor make me two disks with the photos and follow the same process
described above.
I am an independent Shelf Reliance Consultant. Please visit my Shelf Reliance website
by clicking the link below for emergency supplies and food storage
products. Shelf Reliance products
are of the highest quality and are wonderful to fill your emergency and food
storage needs.
