Hurricane Preparation Checklists – the Final 48 Hours

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Hurricanes are pricey and deadly. Yahoo Finance reports that 7 of the 10 most expensive U. S. weather unfortunate occurances in the past 3 decades were hurricanes. Nevertheless the great news about hurricanes - if there could be “good news” about hurricanes - is really because are actually foreseeable, taking into account clever getting ready before the storm ultimately hits. Given time and adequate planning, individuals and businesses can lessen the exposure to the danger resulting from hurricanes. Global Data Vault helps a number of customers though hurricane planning, and we’ve learned what can be done to attenuate risk and regain quickly.
We’ve put together various hurricane planning checklists that will help as well as your company prepare - even just in the very last hours as a hurricane draws near:

Hurricane Planning Checklist #1: Family
1. Develop a serious event communications plan. In the event family members are separated from one another during floods and other disasters, have a plan for getting back together. Separation is indeed a possibility through the day when adults are at work and children are usually school.

2. Ask an out-of-town relative or friend to be your “family contact.” Your contact should live outside your community. After a disaster, it is simpler to generate a great distance call compared to a local call. Family should call the contact and inform him or her where they may be. Everyone have to know the contact’s name, address, and phone number.

3. Call up your home and casualty agent, it might not be past too far to update limits and add appropriate coverage.

4. Discuss how to handle it if authorities have you evacuate. Make arrangements for a lodging with a friend or relative who lives out of town and/or find out about shelter locations. Review a listing of what you should take when you are required to or maybe if you may evacuate.
5. Unless you prefer to evacuate, check your emergency supplies. Some things you’ll want to have on hand are:

- AA portable, battery-powered radio or television and other batteries.
- Flashlight and other batteries.
- First aid kit and first aid manual.
- Supply of prescription drugs.
- Credit card and money.
- Personal identification.An additional group of car keys.
- Matches in a waterproof container.
- Signal flare.
- Map in the area and phone numbers of places you may choose to go.
- Wrench to turn off household gas and water.
- A week’s availability of water and nonperishable food.

Additional recommendations here
6. Understand escape routes. Depending on the variety of disaster, it could be important to evacuate your house. Plan several escape routes should certain roads are blocked or closed. Remember to keep to the advice of local officials during evacuation situations. They should direct you to the safest route; some roads might be blocked or generate further danger.

7. Protect your financial data and digital memories.
8. Plan taking proper your pets. Pets can sense any time a storm is arriving and can go into hiding or behave erratically from fear. Be sure you time where they are and make certain that the disaster planning includes a safe place for him or her with you or relatives and buddies with water that is clean and plenty of food.

Hurricane Planning Checklist #2: Personal and Business Data (IT)
Don’t put your computer data at an increased risk. You may be an existing customer you aren't, call Global Data Vault at +1-214-363-1900.

1. In case you are already a customer, we can start a final check to make certain your system is ready. There exists a special checklist that we’ll walk through to ask about protection for all your critical data - we're also thrilled to tell you this anytime - not just when disaster is looming.

2. Review and/or decide who is responsible to seal down your IT systems. If we have given a local backup appliance, let's assist you to perform your IT shutdown. Then, for anybody who is evacuating, unplug and grab the appliance with you - or, should there be time, package it very well, and ship it to us.
3. If you aren't already a customer, give us a call anyway. There might very well be period to protect critical data. It could be especially employed to employ a USB drive handy, like the ones you can aquire at Office Depot approximately $100. We’ll protect computer data for 1 month 100 % free or obligation.

Hurricane Planning Checklist #3: General Business
1. Call your home and casualty insurance professional, may possibly not be too far gone to update limits and add appropriate coverage.

2. Review and update employee emergency contact info - ensure all people have the newest information.

3. Review and update vendor emergency details - ensure everybody has up to date information. 

4. Provide alternate information in your customers - or make sure they know in case you expect your main contact techniques to failover and/or to outlive intact.

5. Take a look at emergency communications plan. Throughout an emergency, being able to efficiently talk to staff, customers, authorities and the public can create a big difference regarding how good your organization are able to get over the disaster. To better assure this efficiency, it is advisable to encourage open communication amongst workers prior, during, and following an urgent situation situation. An excellent outline is found in our blog here: http://www.globaldatavault.com/blog/business-continuity-planning-part-10-emergency-communications-plan/

6. Encourage all employees to ready alternative means of transportation for traveling to and from work as soon as the storm if normal modes are interrupted.

7. Decide when to close your offices. Determine who's got the legal right to initiate an evacuation. It is a good option to produce a series of command that allows others to provide the order if the designated person is not available.

8. Specify who definitely are answerable for shutting down critical operations and locking the facility during an evacuation. It is another instance where you should train additional staff in the event the designated person is unavailable.

9. Let your employees are aware that you're planning to help with them after the disaster. Here are some good guidelines and ideas

10. When you setup an isolated IT operation following the event, remember these security precautionsKeep in mind that disaster planning is a great idea even when you aren’t glued to the weather channel watching the hurricane approach. Start thinking of what to do when you're not in a very stressed situation, and don't forget that you're not alone. There are lots of people and resources which can help you, your family members and your business survive and get over the worst of storms
Please visit: http://www.globaldatavault.com/blog/hurricane-preparation-checklists-the-final-48-hours/