Preparation Before the Disaster Is Critical For You And Your Family

Southern California fire

As I write this, Southern California is burning with 12 separate
fires.  Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and likely many
hundred more will follow over the next couple of days.  Are you
prepared for the next disaster that could happen to you?  It could
be a fire, earthquake, flood or some other thing and are you
ready?  Most people are not, yet there are some simple things we
can each do to help alleviate some of the pain of loss after the
disaster strikes.  This picture was shot by Wally Skalij from the Los Angeles Times of Santa Clara firefighter Jason Falarski trying to save a house in Poway, San Diego County.

Almost everyone has a digital camera today, so this is a simple thing to do to prepare before a disaster.  Take pictures of everything in your home.  Every room, every closet, every drawer and cupboard in the kitchen.  Take close ups of special things like jewelry or silver or artwork and serial numbers of computers and electronics .  After you have done this upload your pictures to one of the photo hosting sites online such as Shutterfly, Kodak, Photobucket or one of the many others you can find online.  If you google “photo sharing free” you’ll find loads of them.  There, you now have a permanent record of all of your possessions.  If you buy something new, photograph it and add it to the group of pictures already online.  Let your family know where it is, let you insurance agent know and when you have to deal with the insurance
adjuster, you have a record of what was lost.

If you have a video camera, even better, talk about each item as you shoot it.  Make a close up of serial numbers and read them outloud as you shoot the video.  If you remember what you paid for something and where you bought it mention it as you shoot the video.  Once you’ve completed it, you can upload video and have your record the same way.  There are several online sites to store the complete project.  Mediamax, Stashspace, and xDrive and a few offering free storage.

The time to think about this is now, while we see news programs showing the devastation.  At the same time, put your important papers together in one place so you can grab them if you need to and assuming you are at home to do it.  If not, have a copy of everything in another place. KPIX-TV has great suggestions for you to follow.  Don’t wait until something happens.  Be pro-active for you and your family.
Talk about what to do should something happen to your home now, before you wish you’d done it.  Have a plan for everyone to follow.

We live in earthquake county, wildfire county and when rains come we experience flooding.  We do not know when the next disaster will hit, so when it does, be prepared.