Disaster Tip of the Week: Setup Predetermined Meet-up Locations for After an Emergency or Disaster

One of the more common things to occur after an emergency or disaster is families becoming separated. This is particularly true after sudden large region disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, and mudslides.

This occurs for a variety of reasons, though most commonly because these events can happen when you and your spouse are at work, and the kids are off at school. Though you can’t prevent things like this from happening to you and your family, you can take steps to speed up reunification with your family.

The first step would be to set up predetermined meet-up locations with your family. I recommend that you choose at least three locations, but probably no more than five maybe six locations since someone will have to check each location until everyone is reunited again.

Doing this is quite simple and starting with your first location which I recommend be either the sidewalk or at the end of your driveway in front of your home or apartment. This makes meeting up after an emergency or disaster fairly quickly, especially if everyone is nearby when something happens.

Since this location is the easiest, but also not always practical after an event the second location should also be close by such as across the street from your home or at a designated neighbor’s house.

The third location can be the nearest corner to your home or other location, but I would suggest that you choose an exact cross street location to make things easier. You should also keep it close to home in a familiar place incase street signs are unreadable or missing after the event.

Any additional locations should be at a specific location that is easy to find both geographically or by what is at the location. An example would be the Lowe’s parking lot on Friendly Street and Lovely Place. Well, you get the idea.

If you have school age children you should also check with your school to see what the school has planned in case of a large event. All schools should have such plans in place and they will not release the children to go off on their own. A parent may have to come and pick up the child, or they may go to another school or shelter. I suggest you find out now so you won’t be “surprised” when it happens.

To make your location planning easier, I found a website called Safety Maps that you can use to set up predetermined meet-up locations for after an emergency. It is a free tool set up these locations and lets you include instructions. Just go to Free Planning Map to get started creating yours.

If you have family that works more than an hour’s drive from where you live it may not be practical to meet-up immediately following an event. In that case, I recommend you set up a family crisis communications plan, and I will be doing a post on that for next weeks tip.

Disaster Tip of the Week: Always Be Prepared for Anything, Even When Having The Time of Your Life

The Recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy this weekend reminded me of how important it is to be prepared. Prepared for anything, at anytime, even when having the time of your life while on vacation.

The last thing most of us are thinking about when we go on vacation, attend a wedding, a sporting event, or even to the movies is what we would do when tragedy strikes (WTSHTF). Let's face it, it's not usually top of mind for most people in any case. But, there are things you can and should do that may save the lives of those closest to you, and maybe even your own.

What are these things you should do? I am glad you asked:

• Whenever you go somewhere unfamiliar or to an event with a large group of people, always know where ALL the exits are, and the closest one to where you are.

• Look around, get to know your surroundings - the closest exit may not always be the best choice if everyone else is headed the same way. Think about how you would make your escape from the venue should trouble arise.

• When you're on a plane, ship or even at a meeting where they are giving safety information, stop and listen. 

• Follow your Gut. Know when you should follow direction, and more importantly if your gut is telling you to ignore direction, when you should listen. During 9/11 the announcement told people in the second tower struck told people to turn around and go back to work. Not all of those who did so, made it out. Also, even though others may have some training around you, you never know how someone will react in an emergency, until of course it happens. 

• If you're in a high-rise, or on an upper floor know where all the stairways are. Are there connectors and breaks? If one was blocked, how would you get out? What if all the stair where blocked, is there another way out? Through a wall? Can you move the debris?

This is not a complete and exhaustive list, nor is it meant to be. Adapt to your situation, think ahead and if you practice doing this often enough you'll find you can do it just by taking a quick glance around the room.

Disaster Tip of the Week: Choosing Your Bug-Out-Location

Last week I talked about the first steps on deciding on what to include in your Bug-Out-Bag (BOB). As I mentioned one of the most important things about deciding on what to put into your BOB is how far away or how long it will take you to get to your Bug-Out-Location.

How you choose your Bug-Out-Location will depend on a number of factors, such as:

• Can you afford to purchase your own location
• Do you have a trusted group of people that can purchase a location together
• Is it easy for you to get to
• Can you get there if you had to walk
•  Is it safe from the same or other potential hazards

If you’re lucky enough that you can afford to purchase your own location or to get in on one with some other people you will want to look for a location that is preferably in a different region from your main living location. The best site will be property you can purchase that also has access to water, hunting, wood, and enough space to grow your own food. Also take into consideration the security of the location as well.

If others can find it or know where it is, and you have supplies stocked up there is the chance that they could be gone before you get there or even worse taken over and occupied.

Again, consider how long it would take for you to get to the location. If you’re traveling alone and have the knowhow to survive the more remote and further away you can make your location. If you have a family that you need to take care of you MUST consider locating your Bug-Out-Location closer and will likely have to make it more accessible.

What if you’re not lucky enough to be able to afford your own property? The first thing I would do is find a relative or even a friend who lives either in a remote rural location. At the very least find a relative or friend that lives outside of the region in which you live that will not be impacted by the same event that would cause you to leave and seek shelter.

Once you choose the relative or friend, talk to them about your plans, and as a start offer to set them up at your location if something should happen to cause them the need to leave their location. Once you agree to work together in this respect, you can work together to get supplies and set up your Bug-Out-Location.

Another option you have especially if you live in an urban environment is to know where evacuation points and evacuation shelters will be during an emergency. Typically they will be in large schools, but not always. If you must, get involved with your community, or call your local Emergency Operations Center and ask them where the shelters are and which you should report to if a disaster occurs.

Know where these locations will be, and devise a plan to get to the shelter or evacuation points. If you’re in a situation where you need to utilize this option make sure you’re one of the people who get there early. Getting to them early is particularly important if the plan is to use these shelters as a staging point to get people onto other methods of transportation to relocate them out of the area. Make sure you’re on that bus, train or other means of getting out.

As a last resort you can always use the option of Bugging-In which is when you choose to stay put and wait out any event. Not the best option especially in a fire or flood situation and you’ll be taking your life into your own hands.



Disaster Tip of the Week: The Most Important Thing You Should Consider When Creating a Bug-Out-Bag or BOB

Go to nearly any preparedness website or survivalist message board and you’ll read and hear talk about Bug-Out-Bags or BOB’s. The most common theme is other people asking what others carry in their BOB’s or even people showing off photos of their BOB’s. You can even find short and long lists of what people carry, down to the types of bags an individual might prefer to carry.  

One of the elements missing from these discussions is the right way of how to develop a Bug-Out-Bag from the start. The first and most important step in developing your Bug-Out-Bag is deciding where you are going to Bug Out to, also called a Bug-Out-Location or BOL.

Why is this so important? Because you should base the packing of your Bug-Out-Bag on how long it will take you to get to your Bug-Out-Location and by the method in which you plan on traveling to your Bug-Out-Location.  For some, this means traveling all the way on foot, and for others by vehicle or other means. If you don’t have your own Bug-Out-Location you can and should start with how long it would take you to get to a designated evacuation site or shelter.

If you pack only take three days worth of food or supplies into your bag and it takes you five days to get to your location you obviously will not have enough.

Some other things you should consider before packing your Bug-Out-Bag will be:

• Who will be travelling with you, and how fast or slow will they be traveling
• Will you be able to head directly to your Bug-Out-Location, or will you need to take detours for security reasons
• Will you be traveling all the way or part of the way by vehicle or other means
• Is your Bug-Out-Location stocked with supplies or do you need to bring them
• Are others going to be meeting you or expecting you at the Bug-Out-Location
• Is there a time frame in which you must be at the Bug-Out-Location  
• Can you carry the supplies you need to get there

Once you have all this information you can then begin to build your Bug-Out-Bag properly to your specific needs regarding water, food and other supplies you will need on your trek.



Disaster Preparation Is Easy With 1800-Prepare

Considering the events of the last week and the storm that will be hitting the east coast hard this weekend I would like to take this time to introduce you to a friend and collogue of mine Paul Faust, who owns the business 1-800-Prepare. Paul is a former fireman and from New York but this is not the only thing he and I have in common.

Like me, Paul decided some time ago that more needed to be done to help people prepare and he launched his business 1-800-Prepare.

If you need quality preparedness kits, supplies and other items visit his site or give him a call at 1-800-Prepare. You can also follow Paul on twitter to see what he is up to.

Also, I’ll be posting some content on a monthly basis on the 1-800-Prepare blog so be sure to check that often as well.