Posted by admin on March 29, 2011 under Planning, Schools | 
Living overseas offers children the opportunity to immerse themselves in local culture and diversify their learning opportunities. However, the overseas lifestyle also places people in environments where emergency support services that they are accustomed to may be quite different.
For families with children in local or international schools it is important to become familiar with how the schools have planned for and will respond to crisis situations. In most developed countries, local laws and government ensure that schools have emergency procedures in place. For international schools there is often an emergency response plan that is available in both the local language(s) and in English.
Read the rest »
Posted by admin on March 16, 2011 under Household Inventory, Planning |
When we think about inventory tracking this is typically associated with businesses that sell products or need to know when their products are delivered. For expatriates traveling for short term or longer term assignments overseas, creating a household inventory should be seen as essential as setting up utilities and stocking your pantry in your new country.
The key difference for household inventory management is that this needs to be done before you depart. The bottom line is that you need to know what you own so you can move effectively (i.e., organize your packing), plan for replacement (if needed) and have adequate insurance for your valuables. Read the rest »
Posted by admin on April 29, 2009 under Disaster_response |
While looking for updates about current crisis issues, an article about lessons learned from an earthquake popped up. The Worldchanging.com article meticulously lays out some of the key lessons taught by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The main ideas can be applied to overseas locations and can be useful to assist expats who find themselves in foreign locations that face earthquake threats.
- Preparations often focus on individual preservation and downplay how to help others. This concept is introduced early in the article and is (unsurprisingly) accurate. Most public messages and training materials emphasize what people and their family members need to do in order to be personally prepared for a disaster. It is reasonable to add on to these preparations the logical next step of knowing how to help your neighbor or anyone who happens to be in harm’s way during a disaster event. The expat context for this lesson is to be able to communicate effectively so that you can ask for assistance, or offer it, during a crisis.
- Collect your thoughts and then use the tools you have on hand. The article points out that the supplies the author had on hand were appropriate for the situation of an earthquake: “a logger’s first aid kit, a flashlight, the new Army bayonet (designed mainly as a tool), a folding shovel, and Vibram-soled boots.” The idea, it seems, is to think about how you can use the materials you put aside for yourself to benefit others who might be in more desperate need of assistance. Taking the time to have an emergency kit in your car, office and home is sound guidance – especially if you have recently relocated overseas and are still getting settled in. Consider the purchase or assembly of your emergency kits as a critical part of your move-in process. Read the rest »
Posted by Sean on January 5, 2009 under Purchasing, Supplies |
Once you have a clear idea of what you want (and need) to place in your emergency kit, the next step is to begin assembling your kit. This means purchasing the items you need and doing it on a results-oriented schedule. The following article will outline helpful steps and resources to make it easy for you to get your emergency kit assembled.
Check out the Red Cross checklist as you plan your purchases. When preparing your shopping lists, group specialty food items according to the names of people in your household to ensure their particular dietary needs are addressed.
5 tips for buying emergency food supplies
When buying the edible components of your emergency kit, remember to buy:
- Foods that are easy to store (items with a long shelf life or packaging that preserves freshness and are re-sealable)
- Foods that don’t require a lot of water to prepare
- Items that taste good and meet the dietary needs of people in your household
- A manual can opener and disposable utensils
- Nonperishable foods for your pets
Foods that come in “convenient” packages and are designed for long-term storage might appear to be a good deal but if they are complicated to prepare or simply taste terrible, you are wasting your money. Read the rest »
Posted by Sean on December 15, 2008 under Planning, Supplies |
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:
- Where will you store your supplies?
- How much water will you need?
- 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! Read the rest »
Posted by Sean on December 10, 2008 under Emergency Travel |
When you are facing an emergency evacuation from an overseas posting or a long-term expat situation, you need to transform your household into a highly-portable operation that can be transplanted on short notice. There are numerous technology tools that can help you with a rapid, but comprehensive, household transition.
When you are facing an emergency evacuation from an overseas posting or a long-term expat situation, you need to transform your household into a highly-portable operation that can be transplanted on short notice. There are numerous technology tools that can help you with a rapid, but comprehensive, household transition and the important challenges you face while dealing with an evacuation.
Stay Connected and Easy to Find
You need to stay in touch with colleagues, supervisors along with family and friends during your relocation. For government employees there are remote access tools and mobile phones that can function both overseas and in the US. For family members, you need to be a bit more creative.
Set up an email address that has a web-based interface (some free options include Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and Zoho Mail. This will make it easy for you to check email while in transit and, if you end up in a hotel, from an internet café or business center computer.
Some Voice Over IP phone services have handsets that you can use when there is a wi-fi internet signal – typical in airports and, increasingly, in hotels and coffee shops. One example is Skype, which sells handsets that function as wireless phones 
and, in some cases, can be connected to a computer to make internet-based calls. Having a fixed phone number, such as with Skype or Vonage, will make it easier for people to find you and stay in touch.
Make your Data Portable
When you have to leave your residence in a hurry, if you haven’t backed-up your data, you will likely have to leave it behind. If you are evacuating due to a natural disaster, you may never see your data again. Fortunately, a little bit of planning will help you to avoid abandoning critical household records.
Be sure to back up your information regularly. Services such as Mozy (mozy.com), iDrive (idrive.com), Box.net, and Elephant Drive (elephantdrive.com) all offer off-site backup services via the internet. You can also invest in a large volume hard drive (500 GB – 1 TB) and schedule automatic weekly (or daily) backups.
Another simple solution is to scan account statements for your credit cards along with the information pages of your passports and store these images on a USB thumb drive. Be sure to keep it in a safe place! In the event of an emergency, you can grab the drive and any other portable hard drives and carry them with you as you travel.
Use Hardware You Already Own
Most households overseas have a variety of data storage tools that they can use more effectively – especially for data portability. If you own a USB thumb drive, an MP3 player (e.g., iPod) then you already have the beginnings of a portable data solution. Other hardware tools include DVD and CD burners (increasingly common items in some of the more recent computer models) and, finally, compact hard disk drives that are designed to be portable data storage solutions. Some examples include the LaCie Portable Hard Drive
, Western Digital Passport portable hard drive
.
Keep in touch with your community
If you are part of a formal overseas community (e.g., an embassy or a company), you will likely want (and need) to stay connected as a community even while you are in your safe-haven location. In most cases, governments and corporations have support offices that assist with organizing community functions and regular “news” updates. Howver, these might not be able to reach individuals who have chosen to wait out the crisis in a location separate from other families in your community.
If you are inclined to take a leadership role, you can set up a “do-it-yourself” community website and make it easy for friends and colleagues to stay connected during the evacuation and the weeks that follow. Examples of group collaboration service sites are Ning (ning.com), Google Sites (sites.google.com), Yahoo! Groups (groups.yahoo.com), and PBWiki (pbwiki.com).
Online References – Tech Tools and Related References
Posted by Sean on December 2, 2008 under Planning |
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.
Posted by admin on November 5, 2008 under Announcements |
Welcome to ReadyExpat!
We provide advice and resources for emergency planning and preparedness specifically for expatriates throughout the world. Visitors can become better informed on crisis planning resources and tips through articles on this site and through products and services that we link to.
We are just getting started so be sure to check back for udpates and new listings. One part of our plan is to develop a newsletter to assist expats in their emergency preparedness efforts. This will also make it easier for you to stay informed of new information on our site.
In the meantime, you can expect to see new links and articles that will begin helping you become better prepared during your time overseas!
