Are You Prepared for the Next Natural Disaster?
April 11, 2017I seem to have a thing for natural disasters. I know that sounds strange, but I do. I cannot hear about a local natural disaster without immediately getting on the Internet to figure where I need to go to help. I think of how helpless I would feel if everything I had was gone, and I feel compelled to do something – even if it is to pick up debris or pass out sandwiches.
Doing this for a number of years has created what many would consider to be an unusual obsession with preparing for disasters. A lot of this comes from the lessons I learned being onsite to personal disasters and talking to people who have been through a natural disaster. Below are some of the lessons I learned:
ATM’s are in slim supply after a natural disaster. Keep cash on hand to cover necessities. I remember traveling two hours to a tornado site and helping with the cleanup all day. As I got in my car to go home, I saw that my gas was nearly on empty. It took me almost an hour to find a gas station since most were destroyed in the tornado.
The only one that was working could only accept cash. If I had no cash, I would had been stuck. Most people do not think about it, but most natural disasters take out power, which would also take out the ability to use an ATM and a store owner’s ability to accept plastic. Keep a certain amount of cash on hand to cover necessities in a disaster like gas and food.
Make sure your documents are in a place that can survive a disaster and give you easy access to the documents if you need to leave in a hurry unexpectedly. One of the biggest frustrations the survivors of the natural disasters I talk to experienced was not being able to get all of the available natural disaster aid immediately because they had no documentation to prove who they were or to file an insurance claim. What I learned from their stories was to make sure I have all of my important documents in one place that can survive a disaster, like a fire-proof safe. You can use checklists like the one on the FEMA website to gather your documents. You can take this one step further by storing your documents electronically as a backup plan in case you could not get to them otherwise.
Do not assume you are covered by your insurance. Review your insurance policies and call your insurance carrier and ask about coverage. Nothing broke my heart more than the anguish of people who realized that few or none of their possessions would be covered by their insurance carrier. Please do not assume that everything you own will be covered. Thirteen years of talking to natural disaster survivors have taught me that this is not the case.
Make it a practice to review your insurance policy annually. Consider using websites like AlertSystemsGroups.com to learn the disasters your area is the most at risk to experience. Contact your insurance carrier and ask if you are covered for these disasters.
Ideally, you want to be covered for cost to replace your possessions at today’s cost without factoring in depreciation. Also, do not assume your insurance company will take your word on everything you have in your home. Consider taking pictures of your possessions and scanning receipts of high dollar purchase to prove what you own.
Find out how you are covered if you can no longer live in your home. This may sound obvious, but one of the biggest needs for many survivors was having a place to stay if they could not live in their homes. FEMA does offer rental assistance, but this can take time when patience is in short supply. Contact your homeowner’s policy about additional living expenses coverage. This coverage could cover hotel, rental, and even restaurant meals and storage fees.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Take action now. FEMA has a comprehensive guide to prepare you financially for a disaster, but don’t step there. Make it an annual practice to review your homeowner’s insurance policies to make sure that if the unexpected hits, you can return to your normal life as soon as possible.