Author: Meredith Hemphill
2024 was a year with several major natural disasters that caused significant damage in North Carolina. While it is not possible to predict exactly what will come in 2025, there are steps everyone can take to prepare for whatever may be on the horizon. The start of a new year is a good time to take stock and make changes. While you write those New Year’s resolutions, go over your preparedness checklist, too.
Make or Update Your Emergency Plan
Disasters don’t plan ahead, but you can. Planning for unexpected emergencies will ensure you and your family are ready.
Be aware of your area’s risks of floods, fires, tornadoes and other natural disasters when creating your family’s emergency plan. Sign up to receive emergency alerts from county, federal and state emergency management teams to make sure you receive vital emergency information from trusted sources when it matters most.
An emergency plan lays out how your family will respond during an emergency. A plan should include where to go, what to do and how to reconnect during a disaster. Once you have created an emergency plan, practice it with all members of your family. That includes pets! Make sure your plan also includes what to do if a disaster happens while the members of your family are in separate locations. Filling out a family emergency plan is a great start.
Create or Update Your Emergency Kits
Emergency kits are a vital part of every emergency plan. The kit should be easily accessible, and all family members should know where it is stored. An emergency kit should include enough food, water and supplies to sustain each person and pet in the household for three to seven days. Emergency kits should include the following:
- Water (one gallon per person/pet, per day)
- Non-perishable foods
- Non-electric can opener
- First aid kit
- Cash
- Flashlight
- Change of clothes/shoes
- Blanket or sleeping bag
- Personal hygiene items
- Dust mask
- Important medications
- Copies of important documents
- Extra batteries
- Cell phone charger and backup battery
- Local maps
Depending on your family’s needs, you may also need to include pet food and supplies, baby necessities, activities for children and/or feminine hygiene items. FEMA has an emergency supply kit checklist you can use to help you put your kit together.
Some items, such as food and medications, will expire or spoil over time. If you already have an emergency kit, now is a great time to update it. Replace any expired items, and make sure all important documents are up-to-date.
If you have a vehicle, you should also have a car emergency kit. AAA recommends that this kit that include:
- Flashlight
- Cell phone charger
- Jumper cables
- Ice scraper
- First aid kit
- Blanket
- Water and snacks (including for pets)
- Sand/cat litter for traction
- Rags or paper towels
- Tarp, raincoat and gloves
- Shovel
Evaluate Your Cyber Safety
If you haven’t changed the passwords for your important digital accounts in a while or are not using strong passwords, well then, new year, new you, new passwords. Create strong passwords. Be sure to include a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Make passwords difficult enough that someone can’t guess them. Either design them as a passphrase that you can remember or invest in a password manager that will remember them all for you. Additionally, if you have not changed the password from the default on your router, there’s no time like the present for that.
Brush up on your cybersecurity best practices. Be vigilant in protecting your information online and take precautions when using mobile devises. Unsecure platforms can make your information vulnerable to online criminals. Only provide personal information on sites you trust, update privacy settings on social media, only download information from trusted sites and shut down your computer when you aren’t using it. Simply following these tips will enhance your online security presence. Visit our CyberSmart blog for more tips.
Test Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors run on batteries and can only do their job while the batteries last. Check and make sure your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are working and replace the batteries if needed. Once the batteries are replaced, test each system to ensure it is working properly. Also check the manufacturer’s recommended replacement age. If your detector is past it’s prime, it may be time to invest in a new one.