Special offer

What to Do During a Disaster: A Quick and Dirty Guide

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with IDTheftSecurity.com Inc

It’s hurricane season. Do you think you are prepared for a disaster? Most of us are not, of course, yet around two-thirds of us live in a place where we are at a moderate to high risk of experiencing one. Here are a few things you should do to start prepping:

First, Have Some Awareness

The first thing you should do is think about where you live. What type of disasters might occur? Of course, any of us are at risk of a home fire, but what about other disasters? You probably don’t have to worry too much about a hurricane if you live in Oklahoma, for instance, but you certainly need to think of tornados.

Take a Look at Your Home

In the case of an emergency, you need to know where the main shut offs are like your water main shut off, your gas shut off, and the electric shut off. You also should walk around and make sure your smoke and CO2 detectors are working right. Are they all filled with new batteries? Do you have a fire extinguisher? A place to get water? Do you have a flashlight and fresh batteries? What about a first aid kit and a radio that runs off of batteries? All of these are essential in a disaster.

Practice Makes Perfect

Talk to your family about preparing for an emergency. Consider doing a few practice runs, too, such as what everyone should do if there is a fire. You can even talk to your neighbors about it and get them in on the action.

Other Disaster Tips:

Here are some other tips that you should keep in mind when preparing for a disaster:

  • Choose someone who does not live in your immediate area that you can contact. It is usually easier to make a long-distance call than a local one in case of a disaster.
  • If you don’t have a land line, consider getting one. This gives you two phone line options – cellular and land line.
  • Keep documents in a waterproof container. You can also consider laminating the documents or keeping them in Ziploc bags.

Make Your Own Emergency Supply Kit

Finally, make your own emergency supply kit. It should include the following:

  • Water – You need about a gallon of water each day per person.
  • Food – Have enough food for every person for at least three days. It’s best to find food that you don’t need to cook.
  • First Aid Kit – You need a first aid kit with basic supplies, as well as any prescription drugs you might need.
  • Batteries – It is also important to have extra batteries. Keep in mind that alkaline batteries tend to last longer than non-alkaline batteries.
  • Knife – Put a multi-tool knife, like a Swiss Army Knife, in your kit. You never know when you might need it.

Written by Robert Siciliano, CEO of Credit Parent, Head of Training & Security Awareness Expert at Protect Now, #1 Best Selling Amazon author, Media Personality & Architect of CSI Protection Certification.

Comments (2)

Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Hi Robert- I think the key is to think about what you will need and make a plan. I have a printed checklist of what to grab if we had to leave quickly. And I list where the items are. 

Jul 16, 2021 04:28 PM
Kristin Johnston - REALTOR®
RE/MAX Platinum - Waukesha, WI
Giving Back With Each Home Sold!

Great information.  Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful day!

Jul 30, 2021 07:02 AM