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PREPARE AN EVACUATION KIT You figure you’ve got the whole evacuation kit thing under control. The Band-Aids, flashlight, batteries, phone charger, drug prescriptions. Everyone knows where it’s stored. You’re prepared for anything, right? Maybe. What about your insurance papers? Financial info? “There are a number of things people forget, and one of the biggest things we see is the financial records,” from insurance paperwork to banking information, says Jim Judge. “Those are things that are irreplaceable or take quite a bit of time to get replaced.” Judge is a paramedic, certified emergency manager based in Mount Dora, Fla., and on the American Red Cross’ Scientific Advisory Council. MATERIALS Checklist, portable watertight storage container. computer to burn CDs or load USB flash drives.
Evacuation Kit Basics
The Red Cross lists some 40 items, including 1 gallon of water per person per day, food (protein and/ or breakfast bars, easy-open cans), battery-powered or hand-crank radio, first-aid kit, multipurpose tool, emergency blanket, plus a contact card and personal documents (both described below).
Container
Consider a waterproof plastic bin or an old suitcase on wheels that has a handle. “You can put a lot of your information in that,” Judge says, “and if something were to happen, you grab the suitcase, it’s on wheels, it’s easy to roll out.”
Contact Card
Every family member should carry one. The Red Cross website has a printable PDF: “People to Call or Text in an Emergency.” It includes space for a meeting place outside the neighborhood as well as an out-ofarea contact person, since local phone lines may be overloaded or out of service.
Covering all the Bases
“Do more than cross your fingers” is a motto on the American Red Cross website (redcross.org), which has lots of information, from an online tutorial to an app. Among items you’ll find: checklists (available as PDFs) for 24 situations, including earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, power outages, tornadoes, wildfires and winter storms. Go to redcross.org/ preparednessfastfacts.
Customize
Add baby supplies, activities for children, extra pairs of eyeglasses, medic-alert tags. “And put (a kit) in the car,” he adds. “You might not be home when something bad happens, so having a first-aid kit is important, but also items specific for your family.”
Personal Information
Include medication list, proof of address, copies of birth certificates, pet vaccination records, etc. Also insurance policies and banking information. “You could always keep your backup information in a safety deposit box,” Judge says, but remember, banks are often closed on weekends. “A lot of this information can be backed up on a secure drive like a thumb drive or put on a CD. A lot of this information you can literally have in your back pocket. Make sure you use password protection encryption or whatever you can possibly use to protect that information.”
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