Family Emergency Planning
From fires to medical emergencies, your family should know what to expect, how to act and where to go. The following are a few common sense tips to help keep your family prepared and safe.
Tips
1. A list of emergency phone numbers including family doctors, poison control centers, etc., should be kept in an easily accessible place in your home, such as the front of a refrigerator or a bulletin board. Children should memorize basic emergency numbers, your cell phone and office numbers and the phone number of a family member or friend outside the home who has been designated as an emergency contact. A rally point should be selected outside of your home where everyone should gather in case of a fire or emergency. You should select a person who could pick your children up from school in case a medical emergency or disaster prevents you from doing so. The school should be given this person’s name and photo so that the school will be preauthorized to release your child to this person.
2. Keep an emergency supply of cash in a fireproof safe in your home. A blackout, natural disaster or terrorist attack could prevent you from accessing cash through your bank or an ATM machine. It is also wise, to keep checking, savings and investment accounts in multiple banks, even if the deposits are below the amount insured by the FDIC.
3. Purchase an emergency supply of gasoline and store it in a place that is not connected to your residence, like a supply shed or an unattached garage. If you need to evacuate immediately, it may not be possible to get gas from your local station.
4. Create digital copies of all of your important documents, such as: wills, financial records, insurance policies, passports and deeds. Store the copies on a CD or a USB flash drive somewhere outside of your immediate geographic area, such as with a family member, attorney or in a safe deposit box. In an urgent situation, if the original copies are not accessible or have been destroyed, it would be invaluable to have the ability to email these documents to a financial institution, an insurance company or an embassy.
5. Keep a supply of canned food and fresh water, a gas powered hot plate, flashlights and batteries and an analog radio in your home at all times. These supplies should be kept together in an easily accessible place where they can be gathered and packed quickly. These are basic supplies that you will need in the case of a prolonged blackout or an emergency evacuation.
6. You should keep a cell phone charger that plugs into your car as well as an extra regular cell phone charger in your car at all times. If you are rushing to evacuate, a cell phone charger is probably one thing that you would forget and you do not want to be cut off from this form of communication in the event of an emergency.
Domestic Physical Security Planning, please contact
Don Aviv at 212-605-0375 or don.aviv@interforinc.com
