Keeping Your Important Documents Safe During Disasters

As victims of Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters have found, when you have to function after a major disaster, being without your birth certificate, social security card or bank account numbers can be a huge problem.

But with this checklist, you'll be able to make a completely accessible repository all of your vital documents and communications that you can use, whether you're at home dealing with a medical emergency, or dealing with a major disaster and need your important documents to start over.

Let's begin by gathering all of your important documents. Here are the types of documents you need to secure.

  • Bank account information (and PIN numbers, passwords and toll-free numbers)
  • Investment account information (and PIN numbers, passwords and toll-free numbers)
  • Medical records
  • Credit cards (copies of the card, account number, toll-free numbers and credit limit)
  • Income tax returns
  • Insurance policies
  • Stocks/bonds
  • Student identification
  • Wills
  • Living Wills
  • Power of Attorney
  • Power of Attorney for Healthcare Decisions
  • Driver's licenses/ID/Medicare Card
  • Marriage certificates
  • Birth certificates
  • Auto registration
  • Citizenship papers
  • Death/burial certificates
  • Warranties
  • Family Immunization Records
  • Family Social Security cards/numbers
  • Property titles or deeds
  • Company Benefits
  • Contact information for your doctors, lawyer, accountant, broker etc

    Optional
  • Health and Medical Records
  • Safe Deposit Box Key
  • Photos/Videos of your possessions and registration numbers
  • Household Inventory

    Since you want to make sure you have what you need in an emergency, the idea is to put this information in places that will be accessible to you, even if you are unable to get inside your home.

    As a first-line of defense, make two copies of all of the information you gathered from the list above and put it in two secure locations. The first location is in a bank safe deposit box or water/fireproof safe in your own city. The second location is in a safe deposit box outside of your area or state. Many of the banks in the hurricane-ravaged areas ended up being as inaccessible to customers as their homes were.

    As secure as those locations are, hard copies can sustain damage even in a supposedly safe place. And with concerns about identity theft, you may also be wary about placing delicate information like identification and credit card numbers out of your sight.

    So how do you secure your vital documents while making them accessible? Simple. Just scan each document onto a CD or Flash Drive, then password protect it and store the data it in the locations mentioned above, either along with, or instead of the hard copies. While you're at it, make an extra copy of the data and store it with your records at home. If an emergency strikes, first grab the kids and pets, then the CD/Flash Drive, and then Grandma's silver! A few new services take security and accessibility a step further.

    With SmartDisasterPlan.com, you can have your own online personal vault, with SSL security that will not only give you up to two gigabytes of memory to store everything from vital documents to family photos, but you can access this information from any computer with Internet access. This could have made all the difference for Katrina victims or Tsunami victims who lost everything in minutes and found themselves in neighboring states/countries, badly in need of their most basic information. Smart Disaster Plan.com. Smart Disaster Plan.com has three different plans ranging from $15 to $39 per year. They're just one company providing this type of online file system, and though we've never used their service, they seem terrific.

    If you have a video camera, you may also want to videotape a walking tour of your home, featuring the home and any pricier possessions you have. Not only does this show claims adjusters what you have and it's present condition, but if you ever need to make a claim, it will jog your memory of what you have and what would need replacing.

    Want to know the biggest impediment to safeguarding all of the things you hold dear. Procrastination! Taking fifteen or twenty minutes today to take care of business, can save you days, months or even years of pain.

    You can find even more information about keeping your family, emergency information and vital documents safe in the Making Your Family Safe in 15 Minutes or Less, Action Plan. Download it free from our website at www.nokep.org today.

    Laura and Janet Greenwald, are the founders of The Next of Kin Education Project
    To download a free copy of these Emergency Tips or for more information go to: http://www.nokep.org/fmp.htm.