Planning for your emergency supplies needs

Posted by Sean on December 15, 2008 under Planning, Supplies | Be the First to Comment

Planning for your emergency needs is an ongoing process and should be incorporated into your overseas household routines.

The three basic questions to answer when setting up your emergency supplies are:

  1. Where will you store your supplies?
  2. How much water will you need?
  3. How much food will you need?

Since you don’t know when an emergency (such as an earthquake) might strike, you should put together emergency kits for your home and car. Your home kit will be more comprehensive and your car kit should be in one container and easy to take with you if you need to leave your vehicle.

For your home kit, assemble the essential food, water and dry goods supplies to provide for a period of at least three days. Keep this kit in a location that can be quickly accessed (e.g., master bedroom, storage space on the ground floor of your home or in a storage space outside of your residence but still on your property). Make sure all family members know where the kit is kept and what is in it!

If your space allows for it, you can set aside supplies to shelter in your home for up to two weeks. To better estimate the food supplies you will need, check out the food storage calculator at http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm and the article entitled “How to calculate supplies needed for a Hurricane/Typhoon/Cyclone.”

Think about your family members’ preferences and nutritional needs as you purchase and store food supplied. Familiar foods are important since they can improve morale and contribute to a sense of security during a crisis. Think about storing foods that are high in calories and nutritional value. Purchase foods that require no refrigeration, water, special preparation, or cooking. One helpful resource to assist you with meal planning is the Emergency Food Pyramid from the Ohio State University Extension.

When identifying a storage point for your food, try to find a dry, cool spot—a dark area if possible. Be sure to set aside additional plastic bags and containers to store perishable foods, such as cookies and crackers. You should also have screw-top jars to store products such as sugar, dried fruit and nuts so that you can safely store them even after their packaging is opened.

You should plan a regular time and date to check your food stores. An easy reminder is when changing to or from daylight savings time. When checking your food, throw out canned goods that become swollen, dented, or corroded. Also, be sure to use foods before they go bad, and replace them with fresh supplies, dated with ink or marker. Place new items at the back of the storage area and older ones in front.

References & More Information

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Documents for an emergency

Posted by Sean on December 2, 2008 under Planning | Be the First to Comment

Documents that help you manage your home and connect you to organizations, medical services, banks and your legal identity are extremely hard to replace if destroyed. When you invest the time and resources to protect these documents, you make an almost invaluable contribution to stress management in the event of a disaster.

Your document cache should be protected against water damage, portable and crush-resistant. A hard case is generally a good starting point. There are many varieties of portable cases that are waterproof and very sturdy. However, if you are more concerned with waterproofing than with keeping things flat, consider using a dry-bag that functions as a basic duffle or as a backpack.

When you are storing your documents at home, consider placing them in a fireproof box or safe as long as the storage space is reasonably accessible. Think about the natural disaster you might be facing – for example, in an earthquake, you would need to get to the storage space and get the documents out as quickly as possible. The alternative is using an extremely durable box (such as a safe) and hope that it does not get crushed if your residence collapses. If you are living in a high-rise building and you might have to evacuate, consider making your documents secure but, more importantly, portable.

Notarized copies of documents are useful to have while residing overseas. This offers you the option of storing the originals in a safe deposit box in a bank in your home town.

Documents to include in your emergency records kit

  • Immunization records
  • Passports (along with multiple notarized copies of the information pages for each one)
  • Financial inventory (see the information below on the EFFAK)
  • Home inventory – you can improve the accuracy of this by creating an image inventory or video record of the property in your home
  • Current addresses for emergency contacts, family members, friends and colleagues – consider keeping an online address book as part of your email account or a separate contact manager (e.g., Plaxo – http://www.plaxo.com)
  • Insurance policy numbers
  • List of bank accounts numbers and contact information
  • Credit card numbers and emergency contact information
  • Financial records (Stock certificates, Bonds, Certificates of deposit)
  • Copy of your will/living trust and letter of instructions – it is a good idea to have the original document(s) stored with a legal representative or attorney in the event that the document must be used
  • Proof of ownership or lease for any property you own
  • Family records (Birth certificates, Marriage certificate, death certificates, divorce agreements, military discharge papers)

Documents that help you plan for emergencies

Aside from the documents you want to rescue, there are some key documents that can help you plan for and respond to emergencies.

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