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In the Event of Emergency
There has
been a lot of attention lately on emergency
preparedness because of the flood threat. My
question to you is, do you have a plan? If you do,
be sure everyone in your family is aware of it. You
may not all be together when a disaster occurs, so
plan how to meet or contact one another. Be sure
children have an out of province emergency contact
number either sewn into their clothes or on a
bracelet. After hurricane Katrina, many children
were separated from their families and didn’t know
the numbers of out of state family, so it took a
long time to be reunited. You can find an emergency
preparedness guide that walks you through the steps
to build your family emergency plan at
www.getprepared.ca. The three steps they
recommend are: Know the risks, make a plan, and
prepare a kit.
Another question is, how do you save family photos
in the case of an emergency? I remember watching on
the news the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and
seeing the damaging effects of flood and toxic mold
on family photos. These may be your only link to
family history and memories. It’s important to have
a plan to preserve them. The good news is most
people have digital cameras and have their recent
images saved electronically. These can be burned to
CD’s and DVD’s and a backup put with your 72 hour
kit. The bad news is we have books and boxes full
of photos that are on paper and film only. These
can be heavy to carry and ruined when exposed to
moisture. The first step is to store them in
plastic totes and not paper boxes. The next step is
to start scanning. Pick your most significant
photos and have them scanned so you can have them
electronic. This way they can be stored easily and
protected for future generations. You can scan
important documents as well in case you only have
time to grab your 72 hour kit. Keep in mind that
although CD’s and DVD’s have a long lifespan, it is
not unlimited. They are also subject to changing
technologies. Have a plan in place for rotating the
content depending on the expected lifespan of the
medium of your choice.
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