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Opinion
Disaster Recovery: Personal and Up Close
6/8/2007
Where I live (the mountains of Montana), hurricanes aren't much of an issue, but forest fires, earthquakes, and volcanoes are. The most likely threat is a forest fire that would call for a sudden, perhaps very sudden, evacuation. If the gulf coast residents felt rushed when they had several days warning, imagine an evacuation with five minutes' warning. The good news is that if my family and I make it out alive, food isn't a problem. We can buy some at a grocery store. Water will be available in the rest room of our new shelter, probably a high school gymnasium. What will be a problem is the information--financial information, personal information, business information, and medical information--that we will need to rebuild our century lives.
That was the genesis of the "Get And Go" bag--something we can grab on the way out the door. (Our bag is actually a small fire-proof box.) If we have the luxury of more time, then we can add stuff from the FEMA and Red Cross lists plus our computer backup hard disk. The contents of the "Get and Go" bag is coordinated with the contents of our safety deposit box. One of the problems encountered by New Orleans residents was that in many cases they couldn't access critical documents located in safe-deposit boxes for several weeks or more. On the other hand, the risk of house fire or theft makes it foolish to only store records at home. Both the safety deposit box and the "Get and Go" bag contain sufficient data to rebuild our lives. Deciding what is stored in each is an exercise in risk management.
The following list is meant as a starting point; it contains things on my list as well as items that might apply to others. Every individual's list is unique and should reflect their personal situation.
Grab and Go Bag
- Will and/or trust documents
- Powers of attorney
- Insurance policies
- Copies of birth/marriage certificates
- Social Security cards
- Passports & other identity documents
- Copy of vehicle titles
- Contact list: names, phone numbers, and email addresses
- Copy of driver's license
- Two week supply of medications
- List of prescription medications and medical history
- Emergency cash
- Recent investment statements
- Recent tax return
- List of financial account numbers and institution (e.g. savings/checking information and credit card information)
- Safe-deposit box keys
- List of computer user names and passwords
- DVD of business and home computer contents
- DVD containing scans of documents in Safety-Deposit box
- Safe combinations
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