DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PLANNING:
The many recent natural disasters have been very stressful, unpredictable, and caused a lot of damage.  Personally, I have revisited disaster preparedness planning and updated our emergency kits.  It is always a good idea to be prepared and develop a plan.

These tips have been compiled from several sources and I hope they will help you think about what will work best for your family.

Emergency Kits:
In the event of an emergency, you may not have much time to get your things together or to think about what you need.

Consider creating emergency kits that you can store in accessible locations, like your car, office, and somewhere central in your home.

Here are the two best lists that I found about what to have in your emergency kits:
https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/earthquakes/supplies.html
https://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit

You can find starter emergency kits online or in stores that you can build onto as needed.

Keeping important documents safe:
One personal suggestion that I have is to keep your important documents safe as this means one less thing to worry about.
Hard copies of key documents like passports, social security cards, birth certificates, Estate Plan, and real estate deeds, and your Estate Plan can be kept in a fireproof and waterproof container.

Additionally, you should have digital copies of these important documents available.  These can be scanned then stored on the cloud through services like Dropbox.  You can also keep a USB drive with digital copies of all the key documents with a trusted friend, family member, or in your safe deposit box at a bank, if you have one.

https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2015/11/18/keep-your-important-documents-safe-disaster

Make a plan with your family:
Have a designated place near your home or your neighborhood that your family will meet.
If you have children at school, determine with your partner or other guardian who will pick them up in the event of an emergency. It is important that whoever is picking up the kids is on the pick up authorization list with the school.
Make sure you all know this plan and have each family member’s phone number handy.
https://www.ready.gov/kids/make-a-plan
Stay safe and be prepared.
 
WAYS TO GIVE BACK TO VICTIMS OF NORTH BAY FIRES
With the rampant fires in the North Bay currently raging, there has been a lot of discussion about how best to help the victims.  The need is great for in-kind and monetary donations.
Here are a few links about ways to give back:
http://time.com/money/4978071/napa-fire-donations-help-victims/
http://www.napavalleycf.org/fire-donation-page/
http://www.sfgate.com/local/article/how-to-help-north-bay-fires-napa-santa-rosa-12264095.php
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article177964926.html

This post originally appeared at: https://www.liushairlaw.com/blog/2017/10/11/disaster-preparedness