If you suddenly find yourself facing an emergency, you need to act quickly. While it’s not possible to prevent all emergencies, a few well preparations made in advance can help you when you need to react. 

An emergency could be a fire, flood, storm, or another form of a natural disaster. ​

How To Prepare For A Home Emergency

Know how to isolate your utilities

It’s good practice to know how to turn off the gas, electricity, and water supply to your property. Doing this can prevent a lot of damage to your home. For example, if your basement begins to flood then turning off the water supply can prevent further damage to your possessions and structure. When you call the restoration company to come and deal with the aftermath, they will find it a lot easier to deal with the damage. ​
​

Prepare your home

Of course, not all emergencies require you to evacuate your home, sometimes you need to stay in your home when there’s an emergency outside. Having supplies set aside in case you have to shelter in place is smart. They should include: 
​

• 72 hours of food and water (enough for everyone in the family)
• Flashlights and a radio (preferably wind-up or with extra batteries)
• First aid kit
• Tool kit (to turn off utility supplies)
• Cell phone charger (solar or windup powered)
• Toiletries and any medications that are needed

Keep your valuables in one place 

If you need to evacuate your house quickly, it’s a good idea to keep any important documents in an accessible place near the door. Now, getting out of the house safely is your priority, but a folder or small bag that has your ID, or copies of important documents with you in case the damage to the house is so severe you cannot return. 

Learn your exits

Knowing how to get out of your home is very important. You should always have more than one way out of your property in case your primary exit is unusable. 

Pack a bug-out bag 

A bug out bag, sometimes known as a ‘go-kit’ is a bag filled with 72 hours worth of supplies should you need to evacuate your home quickly. They usually contain water, non-perishable food, a first aid kit, warm clothing, and flashlight and map. 

It’s also a good idea to have some money in there too.

Keep supplies in your car too

Being stranded in your car be frightening. Having a kit in the trunk to help you in an emergency is a good idea. The kit should contain water, non-perishable food, warm clothing, a small shovel, first aid kit, and a phone charger. You can buy a wind-up phone charger in case your car’s charger isn’t working. 

---

Conclusion​

No one wants to think about bad things that can happen, but that shouldn’t stop you from preparing for it. Once you’ve made your preparations, let everyone in the household know what the plans are in case of an emergency. Hopefully, you will never need to use them, but it never hurts to be prepared. 

Comment Box is loading comments...