August 29, 2007
Disaster preparedness
Two years ago today I watched, along with the rest of the world, as New Orleans drowned. I “took it personally,” having grown up and spent much of my life just outside the city limits. My father was the chief engineer for those ill-fated levees in his last professional position. I knew we were seeing “the big one,” the hurricane he and others had predicted as inevitable. I watched the horror unfold and my concerns were for all of the friends I hadn’t seen in so many years, and for the city that I loved. I was not worried about my brother, the last of my family to call New Orleans home. A family friend had planned to pick him up on her way out of the city as she evacuated her own family on Sunday. It was Tuesday before she was able to contact my sister and let her know that she had been unable to find our brother. The levees had broken on Monday. Thus began one of the longest weeks in my life. If you want the details, you’ll find them in my post dated September 7, 2006.
It was Friday before the phone call finally came. My brother had been rescued by boat from a second-floor apartment. His upstairs neighbor had taken him in after the waters began rising in his own first-floor unit. He had had four days of deprivation and discomfort, but had never been in great danger. He was evacuated to a launching point and was taken by bus from there to Houston, where he was finally able to find a working phone and call my sister. He had lost everything he owned, but he was alive and well. It was enough.
Two years later my brother and others are still trying to rebuild their lives. Lessons have been learned, many of them at much too high a price. I am certain that he and every other survivor of Hurricane Katrina has an “if only” list. If only we had evacuated. If only we had made better plans. If only we had been better prepared. When my brother eventually arrived at my sister’s home near Dallas, he had nothing left from his life in New Orleans. He made it out with the clothes he was wearing and nothing else.
Two weeks ago Hawaii had an earthquake as we were all watching Hurricane Flossie to see what she would do. A tsunami alert was triggered by the earthquake in Peru and a wild fire was consuming brushland just a few miles from my home. I used those events as a springboard to write about emergency preparedness. It’s a subject I take seriously. I shared with you some of my own post-disaster history and told you about my current emergency preparations. There’s one area of emergency preparedness we didn’t talk about, though, and it’s an important one. Quick and easy access to personal, medical, financial and insurance data is never more important than immediately after a disaster. Many survivors of Hurricane Katrina were left without a single shred of paper to help them access their bank accounts or find their insurance carriers. Most of us have memorized our own Social Security numbers, but what about our children’s medical records numbers? Can you rattle off your savings account numbers, or just the ones for your checking? If you had to start over tomorrow, without even the cards you keep in your wallet, would you be helpless?
Storing personal and family data in a secure online account is an answer that makes sense. AxcessPoints provides a personal data storage system that was designed with emergency preparedness in mind. Their entire program is geared towards storing and protecting your private information securely. Your information is encrypted prior to transmission so that it’s not even available to their own personnel. Plans are available for businesses as well as for induividuals and families. AxcessPoints.com has also dedicated large portions of their webspace to disaster planning links and to the contact information that can help you find assistance and services following a disaster. Katrina taught us all a lot of lessons. Those lessons are wasted if we don’t incorporate the new knowledge into how we prepare for disaster. Check out AxcessPoints and see where they fit into your disaster planning.
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August 29th, 2007 at 6:47 pm, Kat Says:
I’ve started scanning all of my important papers, SS cards, medical records etc. It’s tedious and time consuming. I do about 10 sheets of paper a day.
Then I burn them to disc and label them.
I keep the discs in a 1 quart plastic ziploc bag, right on my desk.
If something bad were to happen, which it very well could here in Florida, I can grab the bag, and throw it in my purse, for when we have to evac. I can’t take a file cabinet, but I can take a plstic bag.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:41 pm, Whim Says:
I would like to point out that the Red Cross has a link on their site on this subject.
This is an important issue. I don’t think that people take it seriously enough.
August 30th, 2007 at 9:54 am, Joana Says:
I’m actually one of those freaks that has a good deal of their information memorized. I don’t have medical insurance, so no worries there! My grandfather does though. As for bank accounts, I have all of mine and my mother’s memorized, and I have online accounts with money saved there. So for the most part, I’m pretty much prepared in that respect. Though what could hit NM that would force an evacuation is beyond me really.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:50 am, skeet Says:
Kat, I have most of my stuff saved to disc, also, but really should update. The last thing you need to worry about while evacuating is an insurance policy number!
August 30th, 2007 at 10:53 am, skeet Says:
Disaster preparedness is hugely important, Whim. Too many people think they’ll never need the info, so they neglect it. The Red Cross and Civil Defense cover pretty much all the bases. I wish more people would check them out.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:54 am, skeet Says:
Attack of the tumbling tumbleweeds, Joanna! You must be prepared!
August 30th, 2007 at 10:19 pm, CyberCelt Says:
Katrina effected me deeply as well. I have a five-part disaster preparedness series on my Texas RV Travel blog. Upon request, I made it into a PDF for easy downloading.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:40 am, skeet Says:
CyberCelt, that’s a wonderful, comprehensive piece. Is the original still online somewhere? There were several links given that I’d like to follow, but can’t do that with a PDF.