Your Personal Disaster Plan

One of the challenges when making a personal disaster plan is the immensity of the task.  When you start thinking about preparing for all the possible scenarios, it quickly becomes daunting.

What if there is a house fire, I lose my job, gas prices spike, there is a terrorist attack, a bird flu pandemic hits, or any of thousands of other scenarios arise?

It may be largely psychological, but I think people tend to be a little intimidated when they start to focus on all the things that can go wrong.  I prefer to start by thinking about the different types of reactions to an emergency.

It does not matter if a gas main breaks, or an accident results in a cloud of poison gas being released, or you lose power and water, you need to temporarily leave your house or apartment.  So a whole class of emergencies can be responded to in the same way, with a short term evacuation.  Being prepared to leave on short notice, with supplies and your key documents, can be the basis for your response to any of these scenarios.

But the response would be different to a different class of emergencies.  If a flu pandemic, or political turmoil, or any other problem results in it being dangerous to leave your home, then the response would be to stay at home, living on food and supplies that you have previously stored, and waiting on the situation to improve.

Its not difficult come up with more scenarios, and to start narrowing them down to different types of response.  As we do this, we will create the framework of our personal disaster plan.

Next time, we will start looking at more types of responses, and the problems that each addresses.

If you are like most people, you do not spend a lot of time planning for something bad to happen.  You have insurance, some money in the bank, a few friends and family you can rely on.  But the reality of what happens after the emergency rarely sinks in.

A friend of mine just lost his house to a massive fire.  He is smart, considered himself prepared, but now he is starting over.  Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but he has to deal with a terrible situation.

He has lost pictures, videos, and his most treasured possessions.

He has to deal with the insurance company, arguing over what was in the house, the condition it was in, and how much it was worth.

He has to find a place to live and rebuild a large portion of his life.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm employment fell by 240,000 in October.

Hurrican Katrina left between 300,000 and 400,000 children homeless.

If the worst case economic scenarios materialize, millions could lose their jobs.

No one knows what is going to happen, but a prudent person can plan and prepare. 

My personal advice – plan, prepare, and then relax.  Focusing on the worst case scenario is not going to help and will just leave you in a terrible state of mind.  Just make sure you plan and prepare before you relax.

In most businesses, disaster planning is part of the business cycle.  Natural disasters, loss of data, electrical interruptions, even civil unrest or terrorist action can result in a business unable to offer its goods and services.

Few of us choose to do the same thing in our personal lives.  We often live as if tomorrow will be like today, not planning for the emergencies that life forces upon us.  PersonalDisasterPlan.com is dedicated to providing the information necessary to make informed choices about preparing for the future.  Every person has the responsibility for their own life, but we will try to help.

From storing food and water, to feeling financially secure, we will try to cover what you need to know.  Let us know if there is anything special that you want to see.