Are You Ready for a Natural Disaster?

Advance planning is critical when Mother Nature strikes

Hardly a day passes without images of a major weather or natural disaster on the nightly news. With threats from hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes to wildfires, mudslides and ice storms, no corner of the country is immune to catastrophic events. These severe dangers, not to mention single family disasters such as fire or robbery, demonstrate the necessity for advance planning, no matter where you live.

While there are many specific threats you should discuss with your risk management advisor for insurance purposes, this article is meant to offer general guidelines that would apply to a wide range of unexpected disruptive events.

Stay or go

Because some disasters may require quick flight from your residence while others may leave you hunkered down in your home with no utilities, emergency plans should accommodate both possibilities. As you plan ahead, consider:

Essential supplies: Before all else, the well being of loved ones must be your primary focus following a storm. As panicky shoppers quickly empty stores when a threat looms, it is important to have core supplies on hand at all times: food, water, medicines, batteries, warm clothing, basic tools, and other essentials. FEMA has a helpful checklist of items to make part of your disaster kit.

Communication: For better or worse, families are more and more dependent on computers and smart phones for emergency information and communication. Consider options for accessing the internet in the event that power is lost in your home. If you need to evacuate your home, make sure you have all the passwords you may need until you can return.

Identification: You may need many items from your wallet in an emergency – including your drivers license, credit cards, and insurance cards. It is a good idea to photocopy the front and back of everything in your wallet and store the copies in a secure place. Do the same with key personal documents such as your Social Security card, marriage license, and birth certificate.

Medical data: Discuss with your doctor how your medical records can be accessed in the event of an emergency. If you have ongoing medical needs, consider storing details on a secure medical records web site that can be accessed remotely.

Pets: Keep pet food and medicines at the ready for emergencies. And consult with your vet regarding the injection of an identifying microchip under your pet’s skin in case you become separated.

Possessions: In addition to discussing with your risk management advisor appropriate insurance coverage for your home, automobiles, and other assets, think about this challenge: How will you document your losses for insurance purposes if your possessions are lost or damaged beyond recognition? If possible, keep deeds and or title documents for your home, cars and other property in a secure location other than your home, such as a safe deposit box. Also, photograph your furniture, art, jewelry and other valuable possessions. Better yet, walk through your home with a video recorder and verbally describe items as you capture them on video. Scan receipts or appraisals for valuables.

If you own a vacation home where damage may occur while you are far away and unable to reach the site, these preparations are especially important.

Insurance documentation will also be important in expediting claims. At minimum, keep policy numbers and contact information available for all policies readily available.

Data: Back up all your important computer data, including photographs, onto a small external drive that you can quickly grab as you leave the house, or use an online backup service.

Taxes: Tax records should always be retained for at least three years, and in many cases up to seven years. Tax relief may be available after a disaster for individuals suffering casualty losses, and prior returns may be needed to access it. Consult with your tax advisor to determine what records should be retained and how to best safeguard them.

Legal documents: In the worst case scenario of the death or serious injury of you or a family member during a disaster, key personalized legal documents – including a will, living will, and/or power of attorney – may be needed right away. Retain copies of these documents where family members can quickly locate them, or entrust them to an attorney who can safeguard and provide them on demand.

Control what you can

We take many precautions against small daily dangers – using locks and alarms, staying out of dangerous neighborhoods, reading safety labels. We diversify investments to protect against the volatility of markets. We consider safety performance when purchasing a car. It is just as important to make basic preparations in the event of a major disaster.

These preparations can greatly reduce the number of decisions and actions that must be made in the chaos of a storm or fire, and shorten the length of time to get back to normal afterward. Further, taking measures in advance allows you to focus on the immediate safety of your family during a disaster rather than worrying about the recovery process.

© 2011 Bright Sky Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Bright Sky Group, LLC is not a registered investment adviser. The views expressed by Bright Sky Group represent the opinions of members of Bright Sky Group, but should not be construed as financial or investment advice. Further, the views are subject to change and are not intended as a forecast or guarantee of future results. The material provided by Bright Sky Group is for informational purposes only. Statements of future expectations, estimates or projections, and other forward looking statements are based on available information deemed reliable, but the accuracy of such information cannot be guaranteed. Statements are based on assumptions that may involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

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