Emergency Plans for Your Family

Posted on Jan 14, 2020 in Blog, Home Ownership, Newsletter Article

Do you know what to do when a disaster strikes? Do your children? By creating and practicing an emergency safety plan, you can protect your family when natural disasters happen. Wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes each require special preparations, including emergency kits with food, water, first aid, medicines and blankets.

Fires. The National Fire Protection Association advises you to have at least two ways to escape the home in case of fire. Practice fire drills with your children at least twice a year so they can identify safer escape routes from anywhere in the home.

Tornadoes. Tornadoes are fast, unpredictable and destructive. The Red Cross recommends the safest shelter for the family as rooms without windows, such as interior rooms, closets, hallways or a storm shelter/basement, if available.

Hurricanes. The Insurance Information Institute suggests learning where the nearest public shelters and evacuation routes are before hurricane season begins.

Earthquakes. Earthquakes happen without warning and can be followed by powerful aftershocks. Ready.gov says to practice drop, cover and hold-on drills, like getting under a sturdy desk or table, against an interior wall, or in the jamb of a door on a load-bearing wall.

Before disaster strikes, review your homeowner’s insurance and make sure you’re covered for flooding and wind damage. Upload photographs of your home and valuables to the cloud. Keep valuables, important files, priceless photographs in a safety deposit box. Prepare your emergency kit.

You may lose some material objects, but you’ll keep what matters most –- your family.

From Chuck Barry’s January 2020 Issue of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Monthly Newsletter.

© 2020 BHH Affiliates, LLC. Real Estate Brokerage Services are offered through the network member franchisees of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Most franchisees are independently owned and operated. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Information not verified or guaranteed. If your property is currently listed with a Broker, this is not intended as a solicitation. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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