Disaster Tip of the Week: Setup Predetermined Meet-up Locations for After an Emergency or Disaster

One of the more common things to occur after an emergency or disaster is families becoming separated. This is particularly true after sudden large region disasters like earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, and mudslides.

This occurs for a variety of reasons, though most commonly because these events can happen when you and your spouse are at work, and the kids are off at school. Though you can’t prevent things like this from happening to you and your family, you can take steps to speed up reunification with your family.

The first step would be to set up predetermined meet-up locations with your family. I recommend that you choose at least three locations, but probably no more than five maybe six locations since someone will have to check each location until everyone is reunited again.

Doing this is quite simple and starting with your first location which I recommend be either the sidewalk or at the end of your driveway in front of your home or apartment. This makes meeting up after an emergency or disaster fairly quickly, especially if everyone is nearby when something happens.

Since this location is the easiest, but also not always practical after an event the second location should also be close by such as across the street from your home or at a designated neighbor’s house.

The third location can be the nearest corner to your home or other location, but I would suggest that you choose an exact cross street location to make things easier. You should also keep it close to home in a familiar place incase street signs are unreadable or missing after the event.

Any additional locations should be at a specific location that is easy to find both geographically or by what is at the location. An example would be the Lowe’s parking lot on Friendly Street and Lovely Place. Well, you get the idea.

If you have school age children you should also check with your school to see what the school has planned in case of a large event. All schools should have such plans in place and they will not release the children to go off on their own. A parent may have to come and pick up the child, or they may go to another school or shelter. I suggest you find out now so you won’t be “surprised” when it happens.

To make your location planning easier, I found a website called Safety Maps that you can use to set up predetermined meet-up locations for after an emergency. It is a free tool set up these locations and lets you include instructions. Just go to Free Planning Map to get started creating yours.

If you have family that works more than an hour’s drive from where you live it may not be practical to meet-up immediately following an event. In that case, I recommend you set up a family crisis communications plan, and I will be doing a post on that for next weeks tip.

Disaster Preparedness Blog is Partnering With GovSec

I've always been a big proponent of security and for those of you who are long-time readers know I have done numerous posts on National Security.

Now I am happy  to announce that Disaster Preparedness Blog is partnering with GovSec to promote the Government Security Conference and Expo again. This time around we have a 20% discount code for those wanting to attend.

The 20% discount code for the conference is below.

CPM07

Register for GovSec

I am also very excited that this year we will be holding a contest to giveaway a GovSec 2012 conference pass. Stay tuned and check back for details on this soon. I will also be sharing more information about this in the upcoming newsletter so sign up for the Disaster Preparedness Blog Newsletter if you have not already done so.

Person With Measles Visits Super Bowl Village, Others May Have Been Infected

The Indiana State Health Department has confirmed a person infected with Measles visited the Super Bowl Village sometime last week, possibly on Friday. An estimated 250,000 people had been at the location throughout the day. The person never visited any indoor Super Bowl event, though it still remains unclear if that person attended the Super Bowl Celebration.

Two additional cases have since been confirmed in Indiana. Indiana State health officials are asking everyone, especially those who were at the Super Bowl Village on Friday, to check your family’s medical records and make sure everyone’s immunizations are up to date.

Disaster Tip of the Week: Always Be Prepared for Anything, Even When Having The Time of Your Life

The Recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy this weekend reminded me of how important it is to be prepared. Prepared for anything, at anytime, even when having the time of your life while on vacation.

The last thing most of us are thinking about when we go on vacation, attend a wedding, a sporting event, or even to the movies is what we would do when tragedy strikes (WTSHTF). Let's face it, it's not usually top of mind for most people in any case. But, there are things you can and should do that may save the lives of those closest to you, and maybe even your own.

What are these things you should do? I am glad you asked:

• Whenever you go somewhere unfamiliar or to an event with a large group of people, always know where ALL the exits are, and the closest one to where you are.

• Look around, get to know your surroundings - the closest exit may not always be the best choice if everyone else is headed the same way. Think about how you would make your escape from the venue should trouble arise.

• When you're on a plane, ship or even at a meeting where they are giving safety information, stop and listen. 

• Follow your Gut. Know when you should follow direction, and more importantly if your gut is telling you to ignore direction, when you should listen. During 9/11 the announcement told people in the second tower struck told people to turn around and go back to work. Not all of those who did so, made it out. Also, even though others may have some training around you, you never know how someone will react in an emergency, until of course it happens. 

• If you're in a high-rise, or on an upper floor know where all the stairways are. Are there connectors and breaks? If one was blocked, how would you get out? What if all the stair where blocked, is there another way out? Through a wall? Can you move the debris?

This is not a complete and exhaustive list, nor is it meant to be. Adapt to your situation, think ahead and if you practice doing this often enough you'll find you can do it just by taking a quick glance around the room.

Box Is Giving Away FREE 50GB of Secure Storage and File Sharing

Box.net announced last week they are giving away FREE 50GB on all LG phones and tablets running Android OS 2.1 and above. This is the perfect time for you to not only backup those important vital records you have for your business, but to make them accessible on your mobile device.

But hurry, this is only available until March 31, 2012. How do you claim your FREE 50GB? Just log into Box for Android on your device before the deadline arrives. If you do not yet have a Box account simply download the app onto your LG device and you’ll get your FREE 50GB of secure file storage and sharing for the life of your account.