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Quick and Dirty Disaster Prep Guide

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How prepared are you for a disaster? Most of us are not prepared, at all, yet two-thirds of us live in an area where we are at a moderate to very high risk of experiencing a natural disaster. Here are a few things you should do, today, to start preparing for a “just in case” situation:

Be Aware

Think about your home and where you live. What disasters are likely to occur? Fire, of course, could happen to any of us, and statistics show that there is a 25% chance that you will experience a major fire in your lifetime. Fires are not the only thing to consider, though. Flooding, winter storms, earthquakes, tornados, and volcanoes are all things that can affect us in the US.

Examine Your Home

In the event of a disaster, do you know where the gas, water, and electric shut-offs are? Are your CO2 and smoke detectors working correctly? Do they have fresh batteries? Do you have fire extinguishers available? Where can you get water? Do you have flashlights and batteries? A first aid kit? A battery-operated radio to get information? All of these things are essential in a disaster situation.

Prepare and Practice

Talk to your family about emergency preparedness. Consider practicing what to do, too, such as in the case of a fire. You might even want to talk to your neighbors about it. Do you have an elderly neighbor or someone who might have extra difficulties during a disaster? Talk to them, too, and help them make a plan.

Other Quick and Dirty Tips for Disaster

Here are some other quick tips for disaster preparedness:

  • Choose a trusted distant contact. It is often easier to make a long-distance call than a local one in a disaster.
  • Consider buying a landline phone if you don’t have one. This gives you two options for calls.
  • Get a waterproof container for documents. Consider laminating these documents or storing them in heavy duty sandwich bags.

Create an Emergency Supply Kit

Finally, create an emergency supply kit including the following:

  • Water – About a gallon per person, per day, and rotate it every six months
  • Food – Enough for each person for three days. Try to find food that doesn’t need to be
  • First Aid Kit – Basic first aid supplies, and any necessary prescription drugs.
  • Batteries – Have extra batteries available. Generic brands are usually okay, but alkaline batteries tend to be better than non-alkaline.
  • Knife – Having a multi-tool knife, like a Swiss Army Knife, can be indispensable.

ROBERT SICILIANO CSP, is a #1 Best Selling Amazon author, CEO of CreditParent.com, the architect of the CSI Protection certification; a Cyber Social and Identity Protection security awareness training program.

Basics on How to prepare for a Disaster

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Situations that could put your routine or an entire city on hold include:
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  • Tornado
  • Hurricane
  • Flood
  • Blizzard
  • Power outage
  • Contagious illness

Your house should already be equipped with supplies for staying inside the house for at least a week, but ideally for two weeks.

  • Keep a newer pair of walking footwear stored—to be used during a disaster (you may have to do a lot of walking). You never know.
  • Prepare a first aid kit.
  • Have a box just for flashlights, battery operated lights, extra batteries and a battery radio. Put a battery tester in their too.
  • A Sterno Stove will warm food (available where camping supplies are sold).
  • Designate a section of the pantry for emergency foods (canned items, chips/munchies). With this supply keep a manual can opener and a lighter.
  • If your climate includes cold, have thermal underwear, gloves, hats and scarves.
  • Designate a contact person who’s not local. Every family member should have this person’s contact information memorized.
  • Each person needs one gallon of water per day (not all to drink; clean water is needed for brushing teeth, washing hands, etc.). Store in gallon-or-less containers. Don’t store water in milk containers. Fifty five gallon drums are available too, with a hand pump.
  • Keep a section designated for the following: sanitizing wipes, synthetic gloves, N95 masks, trash bags, paper towels and plates, and plastic eating utensils.
  • Photograph or take videos of all of your important possessions for insurance purposes.
  • Make copies of all crucial documents and put in a fireproof, waterproof safe.
  • Send copies of the above to a trusted person who is not local.
  • Use a cloud service for computer data backup.
  • Know your neighborhood’s emergency plans—if they even exist. If they don’t, organize a meeting to create them.
  • Know alternate routes in your city to important destinations, since a disaster could close off one of the routes.
  • Another tool to have on hand is a bicycle—you may need to do a lot of riding if the roads are blocked off or the gas supply has stopped.
  • Backup generator with fresh gas can power small appliances or even a heating system in a pinch.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Top 7 Tips to Business Continuity In a Disaster

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Whether it is a natural disaster, manmade disaster, terrorist attack or Murphy’s law wreaking havoc on your business, having an emergency plan of action is an absolute necessity to ensure business continuity and keep the organization running.

The Better Business Bureau has compiled basic tips to ensuring business continuity.

Don’t be caught off guard. Consider the different types of disasters—fire, flood, tornado, etc.—that can occur and how your business would respond differently to being displaced for a week, a month, or longer.

Know your surroundings. Determine alternate locations for your business to operate if you are displaced from your current building. This could mean enabling employees to work from home or finding an alternate location for your office or store.

Prepare your staff. Identify essential staff who are core to the operations of the business and keep a list of their phone numbers (home, work, pager, cell) and e-mail addresses that can be accessed by employees from several locations (home, Internet, etc.).

Communicate, communicate, and communicate. Devise an emergency communications plan that outlines how your business will communicate with employees, customers, vendors and other key external contacts in the days following a disaster. Contact vendors and suppliers to confirm their emergency response plan procedures. Be prepared to use alternate vendors for essential supplies and equipment. Have your data back-up equipment kept in good working condition.

Have an up-to-date inventory of your assets. Review your insurance policies to ensure that you have adequate coverage for items you cannot afford to lose. A standard policy may not cover business interruption losses.

Store your documents safely and efficiently. Keep duplicates of personnel, payroll, payables and receivables and other essential records at an off-site location. Regularly make back-up copies of important computer files.

Establish a succession of management for the company. Determine who will manage the company to ensure business continuity if key leaders are unavailable.

Robert Siciliano personal and small business security specialist toADT Small Business Security discussingADT Pulse on Fox News. Disclosures