| As hard as it is to believe, it's happened again. The | | | | but there is really only so much you can do. For |
| people of Chile were shaken out of bed this | | | | example - the Northridge Earthquake. People did a |
| morning by a magnitude 8.8 Earthquake. | | | | phenomenal job installing earthquake resistant |
| According to CNN and other news outlets, it's | | | | systems in their homes, bolting bookcases and |
| 1000 times more powerful than the Earthquake | | | | pictures to their walls, and even purchasing |
| that struck Haiti last month. | | | | earthquake kits. |
| If you're like everyone else, you're not only | | | | But the one thing they could do nothing about, |
| wondering what's going on. You're wondering, how | | | | was the city's infrastructure. Many apartment |
| to keep your own family and home safe, if | | | | buildings pancaked and neighborhoods were badly |
| something similar were to happen in your own | | | | damaged because of the way the buildings or the |
| city. | | | | streets under them were constructed. And along |
| I'm not just talking about your family and your | | | | with the undermining of the streets and buildings, |
| friends, or the home you live in. I'm talking about | | | | went the contents of those homes and |
| the way you live. The things you love to have | | | | businesses. |
| around you, that make your life comfortable and | | | | That's why your earthquake emergency plan, |
| secure. | | | | must include a way to instantly locate and |
| Think about the photos that keep all those | | | | safeguard the vital information, documents and |
| wonderful moments alive. Your favorite book. An | | | | keepsakes that you'll need to have access to |
| old diary. The keepsakes handed down through | | | | after the emergency has passed. Once you |
| the generations that make you and the people | | | | create your family's action plan, you can use it in |
| you love feel connected. | | | | any emergency - not just earthquakes. With it, |
| And what about the other things that make your | | | | you'll be able to evacuate your home, in any |
| life secure? | | | | emergency, in 10 minutes or less, with everything |
| The deed to your house. Your family's birth | | | | you need. |
| certificates. Your bank statements and retirement | | | | We're not just talking about a couple of checklists |
| benefits. Your family's medical history and school | | | | and forms, we're talking about a comprehensive |
| transcripts. | | | | action plan. And that includes the most important |
| Close your eyes and picture all of those things, all | | | | thing of all - a Get Back To Life Plan. |
| around you, making your life what it is. | | | | We wrote two of our books, "Don't Lose All Your |
| Now close your eyes and picture them gone. In | | | | Stuff In A Hurricane" and "Ready In 10", to |
| an instant... | | | | redefine disaster preparedness and planning. The |
| All it takes is one earthquake, or one wildfire, and | | | | hurricane book, gives you the background and |
| the things you love, the comfortable, secure | | | | resources you need to be prepared and "Ready |
| lifestyle you have worked so hard to create and | | | | In 10" is a quick and easy system you can use to |
| maintain, is gone. | | | | get prepared. |
| The good news is it doesn't have to be that way! | | | | Armed with that plan, you'll be able to face |
| I'll admit that in a major disaster like the | | | | earthquakes and other emergencies, with the |
| earthquakes in Chile or Haiti, you only have control | | | | tools you need to get beyond the disaster, |
| over a few things. For instance, you can't | | | | recover from it and get on with your life. You've |
| suddenly pick up your house and move it to an | | | | just taken disaster preparation to a whole new |
| earthquake-free zone and you certainly can't stop | | | | level! |
| the ground from shaking. | | | | The Right Way To Plan |
| But you CAN make sure the people you love, the | | | | Imagine that you get a phone call that you've |
| things you love and the things you need are out | | | | won a free trip to Hawaii. The catch is, you have |
| of harm's way, before an earthquake strikes. | | | | to be packed, ready and standing at the gate at |
| That's the worst thing about earthquakes. You | | | | the airport in 45 minutes. |
| don't usually have any warning that one is about | | | | Whether you're a planner by nature or not, you |
| to strike. But if you take the time to create a | | | | would hang up that phone, grab the nearest |
| simple plan, you'll know how to get the people | | | | suitcase and tear through your house tossing |
| you love and the stuff that is most important to | | | | everything you can think of into it, and throw it |
| you to a safe place, as quickly and easily as | | | | into the back seat of the car so you can grab |
| possibly. | | | | that flight. You get to your hotel, ready to run |
| If you consider this article (and the earthquakes) | | | | down to the sparkling, pristine beach only to |
| your warning, you can prepare, and with | | | | discover that you have no swim suit, only flip |
| preparation comes the ability to not only survive | | | | flops, a hat and a half used tube of toothpaste! |
| an earthquake, but to thrive after the emergency | | | | That's how most people plan for disasters. They |
| has passed. | | | | put it off and put it off, until an earthquake, a |
| The goal? For you to be able to evacuate your | | | | wildfire or a medical emergency rears its ugly |
| home with everything you need, in ten minutes or | | | | head. Then they run through the house throwing |
| less. The method? Deciding exactly what | | | | things into the equivalent of that suitcase and end |
| "everything you need" means for you, your | | | | up with none of the tools or information they |
| family and the type of disaster you're facing. In | | | | really need. Unlike our Hawaii example, not having |
| other words, for you not to lose your stuff in an | | | | what you need in an emergency, can literally be |
| earthquake, the first thing we're going to have to | | | | the difference between life and death or as we've |
| do is figure out what stuff you need to keep | | | | already seen, merely surviving, or thriving. |
| safe. | | | | How do you keep yourself from ending up the |
| So let's see how earthquakes rate on our Ready | | | | same way? By taking some time right NOW to |
| in 10 Scale. | | | | decide three simple things: |
| If an earthquake struck your area... | | | | - Who is going with you? |
| - Would your home be in danger of being | | | | - Where you are going to go |
| destroyed? Yes | | | | - What you are going to take? |
| - Would you/your family/your pets have to | | | | Even though an earthquake won't give you the |
| evacuate the area to ensure your safety? Yes | | | | time to evacuate, as a hurricane or a wildfire |
| - Will you be in physical danger while evacuating? | | | | would, once you have all of the information and |
| Yes | | | | items you need in place and ready to go, you'll be |
| - Would your vital information, documents, data | | | | able to gather what you need in 10 minutes and |
| and keepsakes be in danger of being destroyed, | | | | leave your home if it becomes necessary. |
| or inaccessible to you? Yes | | | | For example, if there is a gas leak after an |
| - Is there a chance that your neighborhood would | | | | earthquake, or if your home is structurally |
| be uninhabitable for days, weeks or months after | | | | unsound. In that case, you and your family will |
| the emergency passes? Yes | | | | have what you need to leave and to live |
| - Is there a chance that your city would be | | | | elsewhere until you can move back into your |
| without the basic services necessary to support | | | | home. |
| everyday life, (ie, electricity, gas, water, hospitals, | | | | Another plus for creating your own disaster plan, |
| police/fire)? Yes | | | | is to identify the things that mean the most to |
| So, on a scale of 1-6 (6 being the ultimate | | | | you, like keepsakes, family photos and other |
| danger), earthquakes rate a 6. That rating gives | | | | items that might become damaged in the initial |
| us the first set of tools you'll need in your Ready | | | | quake. |
| in 10 Plan. Why You Need a Ready In 10 Plan | | | | Once you know what items you especially want |
| I know what you're going to say. Since you live in | | | | to secure, you can put those items in a cabinet |
| earthquake country, you already know how to | | | | that you can fasten to the wall, with doors that |
| secure items like water heaters around your | | | | stay latched or closed, or place them on a |
| home, know how to turn off the gas main if you | | | | non-skid surface if they're breakable. Not only will |
| have to and to stand in a doorway - or not - | | | | taking those steps protect your cherished items, |
| depending on the latest advice. Great, I'm glad to | | | | but you will be able to locate them immediately, |
| hear it! | | | | check them off your list and put them in your |
| And you're right, it's easy to find instructions on | | | | plastic bins, to evacuate with the rest of your |
| how to prepare your home. In fact, if you need | | | | necessary items. |
| them, we have more information about that on | | | | Getting The Picture |
| our web site. | | | | Sit in a quiet place for ten or fifteen minutes and |
| It's the same type of information that was given | | | | close your eyes. Imagine yourself waking up, to a |
| before the Northridge Quake, recent earthquakes | | | | violent jolt and then rolling sensation. The walls are |
| in Haiti, Italy and Asia and disasters like Hurricane | | | | moving, car alarms are going off and you can't sit |
| Katrina. And, we agree - that advice saved | | | | up no matter how hard you try. It's an 8.0 or |
| countless lives. | | | | higher quake and when the shaking finally stops, |
| But if you listen to the stories that came out of | | | | you survey your home and neighborhood. There |
| those disasters and others like them, it wasn't | | | | is a lot of damage and you'll have to evacuate. |
| enough - something was missing. Yes, people | | | | Picture the people that will accompany you if you |
| survived. But in what condition? | | | | have to evacuate your home or area. This |
| Were they able to pick up the threads of their | | | | doesn't have to just be your immediate family - it |
| lives after the disasters and go on, basically in the | | | | could include nearby relatives, good friends, or |
| same shape physically, financially and emotionally | | | | people with special needs. |
| as they were before? | | | | Picture yourselves getting ready, grabbing |
| Did they have the information and documentation | | | | everything that you need. What would all of you |
| they needed to prove that everything they | | | | need to take with to live comfortably for three |
| possessed before the earthquake - money, | | | | to four days? |
| property, pensions, insurance, citizenship papers - | | | | Besides necessities like clothing and toiletries, what |
| was actually theirs? | | | | types of information would you need to take with |
| Were they able to maintain the financial status, | | | | you? What about keepsakes or treasured items, |
| home and lifestyle they had worked all their lives | | | | that might be damaged or destroyed if they |
| to attain? | | | | remained behind. |
| If their homes had been destroyed, were they | | | | Where are you going to go when you evacuate? |
| able to pick up and rebuild their lives in a new city, | | | | Can you picture the location? How long you can |
| with the least amount of time, energy and pain | | | | reasonably expect to stay there. Would you be |
| possible? | | | | able to access your bank accounts, prescriptions |
| Anyone who watched even a moment of CNN | | | | and medical care? |
| after Haiti, Northridge, Indonesia or Katrina knows | | | | Would you be working at your job remotely, or |
| the answer to that question! | | | | would you have to spend your evacuation time |
| NO! | | | | away from work? If the evacuation were to drag |
| They might have survived the immediate disaster, | | | | on for days, weeks or months, would you need |
| but thousands of people - thousands of families - | | | | to move to a hotel or an alternate location if you |
| were unable to thrive once the emergency | | | | were still unable to return home? |
| subsided. | | | | Take a few minutes to jot down any problems |
| If you think about it, that shouldn't be much of a | | | | or solutions that occurred to you, so you can |
| surprise. People that used only the usual | | | | address them as you create your plan. For more |
| information to plan for a earthquake, got the | | | | information and copies of action plans that you |
| usual results. And because of it, their lives will | | | | and your family can use to prepare today, go to |
| never be the same. | | | | our web site. |
| Preparing your home for an earthquake is vital, | | | | |