“Mom, the smoke detector is going off and it’s not dinner.” Those were the words my teenage daughter said to me when I answered the phone in May 2005. My husband and I were taking a different daughter out on a birthday date and hadn’t even been gone for 20 minutes.
By the time we got back home, fire trucks were in front of the house and smoke was coming out of the top of our second story. Everyone was out safely, including the two little boys that had been in the bathtub. We stood outside and watched and waited to find out if the fire could be extinguished. While waiting, I remembered the laptop sitting on my kitchen counter that had many pictures stored on it that were in no other place. The fire chief retrieved it for me and I gratefully kept it with us when we were “homeless” for the next three months.
The recent news of fires, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes reminded me that I really had not learned the lessons of 12 years ago. If we needed to evacuate our home, we would not be ready. Our 72-hour kits have not been updated in several years and the sweats we have stored as part of the kits would now fit our grandkids. And those memories I did not want to lose? I have no back-ups and no central location where they are stored and can be easily grabbed.
I have scrapbooks that can be scanned and stored digitally and from the days before digital photos, I have boxes and boxes and boxes of photos scattered all over the house. Some are in my laundry room, some in my storage room, some stuck on bookcases, some labeled and some not. At least I have them largely sorted by years.
In our case, we also have legal documents that cannot be replaced – our international adoption paperwork from the countries of origin. I know I need to get them scanned and stored electronically.
There are some relatively easy ways to save those memories – it just takes time and a little bit of effort. Scanning and storing photos and other important documents is a great first step – and then create redundancies. Flash drives can be stored in a safe deposit box or mailed to relatives, everything can be uploaded to Amazon cloud and Dropbox and also copied to an external hard drive that can be grabbed on the way out the door.
It’s 3 am. Do you know where your insurance policies are?
Adrenaline is a funny thing. It will help you stay alive, but it doesn’t really do much for rational thought. I’ve read stories of families evacuating grabbing the most essential items, only to realize later they grabbed their bowling balls and none of their important papers.
While you are scanning, preparing and preserving memories, take some pictures of your home. Those “before” pictures can help streamline the insurance claim process by showing possessions you left behind and the state of your home before disaster struck.
There are literally millions of places you can look for emergency preparedness ideas, lists and resources. A quick Google search shows more than 26 million hits, and will contain simple checklists to elaborate plans that include dealing with dead bodies. There is a lot I’ve done to prepare - I am a low-tech health care provider (a midwife), am CERT-trained, as is my husband and oldest son, I garden, I can and have an impressive array of camping supplies. But this summer’s disasters have pointed out some big holes in my preparedness.
If we haven’t gotten ready before now, perhaps it’s time we do so. Remember those billboards that used to be on I-15? You never know when today will be “The day before.”
Holly Richardson
Holly Richardson has about a 10-year supply of fabric. You know. Just in case.