My Survival List

Assistance after a Natural Disaster

Jul 24

BillHome Preparedness, Lists contacts, disaster, list, planning 1 Comment

Planning is the best way to reduce our vulnerability to a natural disaster. Being prepared allows us more options in dealing with the situations we will find ourselves in after an event.

You may have already downloaded my survival gear checklist from a previous post, and noticed that there is a large space at the top for important phone numbers. This is a great place to add the phone number of family members, utility companies and insurance agents.

You may not think that this is important since your cell phone has all the numbers in it, but your cell phone could be destroyed, lost or just have a dead battery. During a power failure, you might not have the option of changing a dead cell phone.

Another important piece of information you might want to add to the list is the website for DisasterAssistance.gov. This site provides information on how you might be able to get help from the U.S. Government before, during and after a disaster. If you don’t have Internet access, you can try this toll-free number 800-621-3362. Not only is this site available for requesting assistance, you can also check on the status of your request, change your contact information and view available housing options.

There are many other resources available on this site that could be useful after a disaster. I highly recommend that you add this to your survival plan as an important contact. Keep in mind that should you need to apply for assistance, you may need to provide information such as your social security number, insurance and annual income. The need for this information is just another reason to have the information in a protected area or alternate location.

Adding this to your survival list is a simple, fast way to increase your preparedness. If you have some other survival tips you think people would find helpful, please leave a comment below.