Week 3: Important Documents

This week's task:  Make an Emergency Folder/Binder to add to your emergency supplies (store it where you can grab it quickly if you have to evacuate).  Put the following in your binder:

1. Your emergency contact list
2. The "important documents" described below.  

When you're done, leave a comment to enter to win the January prize (a 10-pack of light sticks)!  Remember, you can still finish the Week 1 and Week 2 tasks and leave comments on those posts to increase your chances of winning the prize.  Comments left before midnight on Jan. 31 will be eligible for the drawing.* 

Emergency Binder:  This will be a place to collect hard copies of information that is likely to be useful after a disaster if you have to evacuate your home and/or if you do not have access to the internet.  I will suggest other things to add to your emergency binder in future posts.  .

Emergency Contact List: Make a list of emergency phone numbers that includes your local emergency services (police, fire, animal control), your local utility companies, your doctors and dentist, your insurance agent, your out-of-state contacts, and anyone else you might need to contact in a hurry.  Keep a copy near your home phone, in your emergency binder, and on your cell phone, if you have one. Here is a spreadsheet to get you started (I've already filled in the local emergency and utility phone numbers for Albany/Berkeley/El Cerrito):  Excel version, Pdf version.

Important Documents:  The Red Cross suggests that you keep a copy of the following personal documents in your disaster kit so that you will have them if you have to evacuate your home:  medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address (e.g. utility bill addressed to you), bank statement showing your name and account number, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies.  

Family Plan: If you created your family plan during  Week 1, add that to the binder too.

*The prize drawing is open to past and present members of the Berkeley Ward.