Disaster Preparation

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I’ve lived in earthquake country. I’ve lived in hurricane country. I’ve even visited in tornado country. I’ve learned that there are wonderful little booklets with all sorts of valuable information for each of these types of disasters. Problem is, I always seem to bring them home from the store, get interrupted, and promptly misplace them. I decided to put them all right here so I can have easy access to them and you can too!

 

I would suggest that the first thing to do is to open any of these that are appropriate to your area, and save them onto your own computer. After that print them out so that in case a disaster hits unexpectedly and you are unable to link to the internet, you still have them on your computer. And if your computer got thrashed as well, you do have a hard copy – you just have to find it.  I will be keeping mine in a file called DISASTER INFO in my main file cabinet. So the next time I can’t find where it is, I’ll do a search of this blog and know right where to look J. Feel free to join me there.

 

GENERAL PREPARATION INFORMATION:

FEMA has an excellent overall guide that includes how to prepare for natural disasters as well as terrorist attacks. They also have a form to fill out with basic information and a family communications plan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LviZ4pZrqu8 

 

Red Cross also provides outstanding resources, in both English and Spanish.

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_591_,00.html

 

Here is the Red Cross’ basic Get Prepared site – (for specific disasters, see the sections below):

http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_239_,00.html

 

CAREGIVER PREPARATION:

Of course, as caregivers, we not only have to plan ahead for our needs, we also need to be planning for our loved ones’ needs. Whether it’s making sure to have extra formula and water bottles for babies, compiling lists of needed medicines for children or adults, perhaps purchasing an extra cane to add to the supplies for an elderly relative, it does make for some extra planning and thinking ahead. The Red Cross and FEMA sites have excellent information for these specific needs as well.

 

FEMA has a great site for kids to teach them how to prepare and why – I definitely bookmarked that for my grandkids and me to work on: http://www.ready.gov/kids

 

The Red Cross offers a complete section for special needs preparation entitled People with Disabilities and other Special Needs  – http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_603_,00.html

 

They also have a section for Children and Disasters – This has many excellent publications for helping children prepare phsycially and emotionally:

http://www.redcross.org/pubs/dspubs/childmatls.html

 

In addition, they have a page just for seniors, written by seniors, which even has a large print option – http://www.prepare.org/seniors/srsforsrs.htm 

 

They even have materials for all those beloved Pets –

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_604_,00.html

 

EARTHQUAKES:

California is one of the major sites for earthquakes. It is definitely logical that their state would have good resources regarding preparing for them:

http://www.seismic.ca.gov/pub/CSSC_2005-01_HOG.pdf

 

Red Cross – They provide earthquake specific information, in both English and Spanish:

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_583_,00.html

 

FLOODS:

Red Cross – They provide flood specific information, in both English and Spanish:

 http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_240_,00.html

 

HURRICANES:

NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – A  LOT of great information along with many guides:

NOAA’s BE PREPARED information is easily laid out – http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/disaster_prevention.shtml

 

Here are all their information guides – http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/downloads.shtml

 

Their link page with many excellent resources for you to check into – http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/links.shtml

 

Red Cross – They provide hurricane specific information, in both English and Spanish:

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_587_,00.html

 

TORNADOES:

NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration –  A great explanation of what tornadoes are along with how to be prepared for them:

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

 

EMERGENCY ALERTS:

Now that you have all these great emergency planning materials, where is the emergency? Hopefully nowhere anytime soon BUT if there is one coming, you can find out sooner by going to http://www.emergencyemail.org/ and signing up to be notified about any weather and homeland security emergency alerts for your area. You can select other areas as well, so if you are a long distance caregiver, I would suggest you sign up for the area your loved one lives in as well. I have been a subscriber for years and I get notified whenever something big is happening around me or when it is happening around two special people in my life. One lives in a tornado area and it helps me to know that the reason I can’t get through on the phone is probably the major thunderstorms I’ve been notified about. The service is free. They do use advertising to keep it that way. I have signed on to receive occasional ads from their sponsors and it has never been a problem.

 

Well, now I have my disaster preparation ready to go no matter what state I’m in. Hopefully I won’t need it, but I’m glad it’s there if I do. Do you have any other Disaster Preparation sites you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about them. Just write a comment below with them, or send an email to Kaye@SandwichINK.com.