30 Aug How prepared are you?
National Preparedness Month – Ready.gov
September is National Preparedness Month. This “holiday” serves as a reminder for everyone to make sure they’re prepared for any disasters.
Basic plans you should have:
List of emergency contacts.
Designated meeting point for your family in case communications are down.
Access to policies that prove what you own and what you’re covered for.
List of items to pack up in case of evacuation.
A will for each adult.
For a wealth of information and ideas, visit http://www.ready.gov/.
In South Texas, we need to be ready for two types of disasters: tornadoes and wildfires. With a wildfire, we would get a little more warning (we hope), but we’ve still planned for both in the same way, using the items I’ve listed above.
I thought the tough part of getting all of those necessities planned would be deciding what would be on our list of items to pack. But it wasn’t. Instead, it was a good exercise and reminder that in the end, stuff just doesn’t matter. Here’s our list:
- Humans in household
- Dogs and their food, meds
- Wallets
- Prescriptions
- Snack shelf + bottled water
- Phone chargers and phones
- Laptops
- Photo Albums
- Bag of clothes
- Fire Box of important papers
- Business Accordion File
We agreed on those items, in that order. Should we run out of time, we will have already collected what we deemed as most important to us when we were calm and rational.
I would like to think that I’d know what to do and would react quickly in an emergency, but I prefer to play it safe and have my list for reference. Heck, if I forget an ingredient for a meal I make all the time, I’m quite likely to forget something important if I’ve got only five minutes to clear out of my home forever. This list is posted in the garage, ready to be checked off.
What plans do you already have prepared? Which ones do you still need to work on?
About Helene Segura
Helene Segura teaches go-getters how to use their time more efficiently in order to have a more peaceful life. For details about her, be sure to visit https://www.HeleneSegura.com
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