Keeping Your Important Documents Safe During Disasters

Article by: Laura Greenwald

As victims of Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters , Your Guide To Buying Security Cameras have found, when you have to function after a major disaster, , Abatement of Contagious Bird Flu being without your birth certificate, social security , How to Buy a Safe for Your Home 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 , Security In Your dealing with a medical emergency, , Accessories for Camera Surveillance or dealing with a major disaster , Building healthy homes: Want to secure the health and life of your family at home? 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 , Read This Article If You Want To Protect Your Home (and PIN numbers, passwords and toll-free numbers)

Investment account information , Keep Your Family Safe from Home and Holiday Fire Hazards (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 , Alarm System Keypads cards/numbers

Property titles or deeds

Company Benefits

Contact information , How to Protect Your Family and Valuables by Hiding Them "Out of Sight and Out of Mind!" 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, , Keep Your Family Safe from Home and Holiday Fire Hazards the idea is to put this information , Your Guide To Buying Security Cameras in places , Home Selling that will be accessible to you, even if you are unable to get inside , Accessories for Camera Surveillance your home. , Better Hearing with Listening Devices

As a first-line of defense, make two copies of all of the information , Disaster Survival Kit Tips for You, Your Family, and Your Business you gathered from the list above and put it in two secure locations. , Is Your Burglar Alarm Accredited? The first location , How To Select The Best Home Security Company For Your Needs is in a bank safe , Keep Your Family from Home and Holiday Fire Hazards deposit box or water/fireproof safe , The Case for Personal, Estate, Corporate and Child Abduction Security in today’s World in your own city. The second location , How to Buy a Safe for Your Home is in a safe , How Secure is Your Home? deposit box outside , Capture Details with Digital Voice Recorders of your area or state. Many of the banks in the hurricane-ravaged areas ended up being as inaccessible to customers as their homes , Fireproof Gun Safes - Protect Your Right to Bear Arms By Protecting Your Family were.

As secure as those locations , Disaster Survival Kit Tips for You, Your Family, and Your Business are, hard copies can sustain damage even in a supposedly safe place. , How to Buy a Safe for Your Home And with concerns about identity theft, you may also be wary about placing delicate information , Security In Your Home 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 , Video Surveillance Equipment 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. , The Top Advanced Security Innovations If an emergency , Ready for Emergencies? Five Simple Steps to Prepare for Disasters strikes, first grab the kids and pets, then the CD/Flash Drive, and then Grandma's silver! A few new services take security , Fireproof Gun Safes - Protect Your Right to Bear Arms By Protecting Your Family and accessibility a step further.

With SmartDisasterPlan.com, you can have your own online , Disaster Survival Kit Tips for You, Your Family, and Your Business personal vault, with SSL security , Document Shredding: Destroying The Things That You Value 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 , All in One Hidden Digital Video Recorders from any computer with Internet , Your Guide To Buying Security Cameras 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. , Home Security When You are Away Smart Disaster Plan. , Keep Your Family Safe from Home and Holiday Fire Hazards com. Smart Disaster Plan. , Building healthy homes: Want to secure the health and life of your family at home? com has three different plans , Tips To Avoid Carjacking ranging from $15 to $39 per year. They're just one company providing this type of online , Read This Article If You Want To Protect Your Home file system, and though we've never used their service, they seem terrific.

If you have a video camera, , Alarm System: Smoke and Heat Detectors you may also want to videotape a walking tour of your home, , Safe Home featuring the home , Abatement of Contagious Bird Flu 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 , Stand Alone Keyless Access - How Does It Work? you days, months or even years of pain.

You can find even more information , Home Security When You are Away about keeping your family, emergency , Tropical Hurricane Alberto Rings in the 2006 Tropical Hurricane Season as First Storm information and vital documents safe , Ready for Emergencies? Five Simple Steps to Prepare for Disasters in the Making Your Family Safe , Storm Shelters and Best Places to be During a Tornado in 15 Minutes or Less, Action Plan. , NYC Moving Advice 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 , Home Security: How to Defend Your Home When You Are Away or for more information , Is Your Identity Really Safe? go to: http://www.nokep.org/fmp.htm.

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