The phone rings in the middle of the night, an ungodly hour, suddenly waking you up. Your heart and mind race as you try to calm down and reason with yourself.
It’s probably just a wrong number dialed.
Yet you are instantly alert. Who could it be? Did something happen to someone you love or care about?
With dread you answer the insistent doorbell.
Hello?
We all shudder at the thought. The call that could indicate something is drastically wrong. The fear that we may lose something dear to us.
And yet the most unsettling event we hope to never experience is the dreaded knock on the front door of an emergency service. As you rush to open the door, they are there and tell you to immediately evacuate your house. There is no time to doubt. You must go NOW.
This terrifying experience has happened to many in recent weeks… who have been asked to leave their homes due to hurricanes or fire storms. The frequency of this is bewildering.
Are you prepared in case this happens to you?
I don’t tend to be an apocalypse, someone given to instilling fear, forebodings, or predictions of impending calamity. However, natural disasters, along with man-made destruction, have made me aware of being prepared.
I had to ask myself, “Am I prepared if this happened to me?” And my honest answer is no.
Here’s the crazy part: I’ve been through a lot of natural disasters myself, experienced them firsthand. Lived in areas with tornadoes. I was evacuated from my home because of a hurricane. He was evacuated from my church in the Oakland hills due to a fire storm. And I was trapped on the 32nd floor of a high-rise building during the great ’89 earthquake in San Francisco.
How, then, could I not be more prepared myself?
Would you please ask me that?
BUT what exactly would you do to make sure you are prepared? What would you have ready in your ‘go-bag’?
Let me clarify: I am not an expert in all the areas in which it would be wise to prepare. The one area I wish to cover, however, is what key personal and financial documents you would need to bring with you in the event you have to evacuate or leave your home.
Ideally, you should have these documents gathered in advance, stored in a fire-protected, airtight safe. You don’t want to be rushing around trying to round them up after they knock on the door.
When you are asked to evacuate, your only priority is your safety. Do not delay the evacuation trying to locate any documents.
Of course, these are just the personal and financial records you need to have ready. Other items to include, as suggested by those who lost everything in a disaster, were photos, sentimental jewelry, and a laptop.
A friend shared with me that she took her late husband’s T-shirt, a memorable, non-replaceable memento.
And you? What would you have ready in your ‘go-bag’?
As for my own preparation, even those of us who have come through disasters fairly unscathed have our heads in the sand too. I realize I’ve been complacent, assuming it wouldn’t be me knocking on the door.
Seems like time for my own checklist!
