Disaster Tip of The Week: Set Meeting Points to Reunite With Family and Loved Ones

Meeting Points

It's hard to believe I wrote a brief post about this over ten years ago - Have a Designated Meeting Place For Your Family. Today, I'd like to expand on this a bit more.

Odds are when a disaster or other unexpected event occurs you are likely to be at work. Your spouse or significant other will also be at work and your kids, they'll probably be at school. Perhaps you're out shopping or your kids are at the movies. 

Then all of a sudden it happens... A major earthquake, wildfire, tornado or other significant event occurs in your area. Your neighborhood is in ruins. 

You barely get out alive. You have no idea where any of the other members of your family are. But you have a plan. 

At this point, I hope you do have a plan to reunite. If not, pay attention and I will help you create your Family reunification Plan. 

Creating a plan is fairly easy. Before we get to that let's talk some basics. First, decide on how many meeting points you will have. While more is better, you will have to physically go to these meeting points at least daily until you reunite with your family. So, you don't want to have too many. 

Working with families on this I have found five to be the magic number most people are comfortable with. Though I will say you should have at minimum three meeting points with at least one location in a major area of your neighborhood that would still be recognizable even if it sustains major damage. 

The first meeting point you select should be the easiest since it should be located just outside your home. It can be the end of your driveway, by the mailbox, the entrance to your building or some other close by location. 

The second location should be either across the street from where you live, outside neighbors' house or just down the road from your home or building. The main reason for this is the proximity. If for instance, your home was on fire, you can quickly meet up with family members, get a headcount and notify the authorities if someone is missing. 

The third location should be the closest major cross-street closest to your home. This is still close enough to home while being in a safer place should that be required. Also, most busy intersections can be safer than just anywhere and allow other people to see you or your family. 

Once you have these three meeting points selected choose another place nearby in your area that is easy to walk to. It could be the parking lot of a major strip mall, gas station, fast food place or any other easily recognizable location that has traffic and a parking area. 

Once you have selected all of these locations you can start to build out other locations as needed. I would recommend as long as it is within walking distance and it is safe to do so include your kid's school as another location. After that, I would consider adding somewhere in the next neighborhood. 

Once you decide on your meeting points go to your preferred online based mapping system. You can also use the map to help you choose locations. 

Once you decide upon a meeting point, you can dd a pin (or meeting point) onto the map and label it as Meeting Point #1. Continue the process for each meeting point you add and then take a screenshot. 

Once you do this you can print out the Meeting Points and add it to your Emergency Binder and/or give copies to each family member. Make sure they know to go to these meeting points after a disaster. 

One other important item to mention here is that you should set a time during the day when each site will be checked and stick to it. Also, make certain your family knows that they can and should go to a shelter if possible. 

This system also works best when coupled with having an Out of State Contact which you can read about there. 

Where are the Safest States to Live In 2014?

According to the study, Massachusetts is the safest State to live and New Hampshire comes in at number two. Overall the entire North-East of the United States is pretty safe overall based on this study.

The study used the following safety factors to determine the relative overall safety of each state. Financial Safety of the State, Driving Safety Rank, Workplace safety, Natural Disaster Rank, and finally, Home and Community Safety. These factors then provide an overall rating of each State giving us the safest and least safest States to live in based on the study.

To see more on this study see 2014's Safest States to Live.

Disaster Tip of The Week: Staying Safe In the Summer Heat

Heat is a major killer. In fact heat is the number one weather related killer. During a heat wave in 1980 there were 1250 heat related deaths. In 1995 during a heat wave 700 people in Chicago died. In 2003 during the EU summer heat wave 50,000 people died. In France alone the number of lives lost was about 15,000 people.

The temperatures in my area has been over 100⁰ F for the last week and looks to continue that way well into this weekend. While this is not out of the ordinary for where I live there is another factor that coupled with this can cause issues. As of today there is a major transportation strike and many more cars are out on the road.

During such times the National Weather Service will issue heat related warnings. These warnings are as follows:

• Excessive Heat Watch - Conditions are favorable for an excessive heat event to meet or exceed local Excessive Heat Warning criteria in the next 24 to 72 hours.
• Excessive Heat Warning - Heat Index values are forecasting to meet or exceed locally defined warning criteria for at least 2 days (daytime highs=105-110° Fahrenheit).
• Heat Advisory - Heat Index values are forecasting to meet locally defined advisory criteria for 1 to 2 days (daytime highs=100-105° Fahrenheit).

Heat-Related Illness Symptoms and First Aid

HEAT CRAMPS

• Symptoms:
  • Painful muscle cramps and spasms usually in legs and abdomen
  • Heavy sweating
• First Aid:
  • Apply firm pressure on cramping muscles or gentle massage to relieve spasm.
  • Give sips of water, if nausea occurs, discontinue water

HEAT EXHAUSTION

• Symptoms:
  • Heavy sweating
  • Weakness
  • Cool, pale, clammy skin
  • Weak pulse
  • Possible muscle cramps
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Fainting
  • Normal temperature possible
• First Aid:
  • Move person to a cooler environment
  • Remove or loosen clothing
  • Apply cool, wet cloths
  • Fan or move victim to air conditioned room
  • Offer sips of water. If nausea occurs, discontinue water. If vomiting continues, seek immediate medical attention.

HEAT STROKE (or sunstroke)

• Symptoms:
  • Altered mental state
  • Possible throbbing headache, confusion, nausea, dizziness, shallow breathing
  • High body temperature (106°F or higher)
  • Skin may be hot and dry, or patient may be sweating
  • Rapid pulse
  • Possible unconsciousness
• First Aid:
  • Heat stroke is a severe medical emergency. Summon emergency medical assistance or get the victim to a hospital immediately. Delay can be fatal.
  • Move the victim to a cooler, preferably air-conditioned, environment
  • Reduce body temperature with a water mister and fan or sponging
  • Use fan if heat index temperatures are below the high 90s
  • Use extreme caution
  • If temperature rises again, repeat process
  • Do NOT give fluids

Safety and Social Media - Before You Post That Read This

Before You Post To Social Media Read This Post

I'm a big fan of Social Media. I use it to engage with my fans, clients, potential clients and keep up with friends. What you never really see me doing is posting pictures of my family, sure there are a few but I limit how much I post. If I had kids, I would never post publicly viewable photos of them.

Another thing I do not do on Social Media is post photos with my home in them. I also never discuss where I am. At least not at the time I am away or anything like that. Some of you may call me crazy, paranoid and some may even laugh. That's fine. Most of you also don't have thousands of strangers reading what you put online and trying to connect with you either. Don't get me wrong, I'm not famous by a long shot. But let me explain a few things.

First, there are people out there who look for these things. They will track you down, they will find you, and when they do, they will likely break into your home. I'm not kidding. There are many reports of this occurring. Also, when we purchased a new home a few years ago we had a break in and were robbed. The good news. There wasn't much to take, just a few things that we had just purchased and placed in the garage for safe keeping. 

I've since turned the house into a fortress, got an alarm system (we were getting anyway, but waiting till the move took place), and a nice beautiful living alarm/deterrent we call Luna. Anyway, that is not what this post is really about.

You see, my wife knows someone that was recently robbed. This person posts frequent pictures of the inside of their home. Also, those of you with kids, taking those innocent photos of them playing sports, or in front of their school, or wearing the team jersey. It seems to me the internet has made it easier for the nefarious would be stalker who is looking to do something evil.

Sure, I may be paranoid. But, paranoid and being safe never really hurt anyone. So next time. Before you post something. Think. Am I exposing myself to harm in a way I would never do if I knew someone was watching me?

Home Security Considerations

Home security is an oft overlooked preparedness measure and should be thought about and planned out well in advance. First, there are two ways we are going to look at security here; your everyday security and security for a bugging-in situation.

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