Natural disasters are painfully costly. Not just in terms of financial, but also in terms of human life. 

Let’s get to know some statistics to illustrate the point:

The most deadly hurricane that hit the Western Hemisphere since 1780 was hurricane Mitch.  More than three million people were either homeless or severely affected. The death toll was estimated at 11,000 with thousands more still missing. [1]

In the US, hurricanes have caused the most deaths and destruction of all recorded weather disasters in history. There have been 6,502 deaths since 1980 until April 2019. [2]

Of the 258 weather disasters from 1980 until 2019 in the US, hurricanes have caused the most damage: $945.9 billion total, with an average cost of almost $21.5 billion per event. A total of $1.75 trillion of damages came from weather and climate disasters. [2]

The numbers don’t lie. Hurricanes are devastating, which is why preparation is important. 

READ MORE: Should regular people devote energy for pragmatic prepping?

So what can you do?

1: Get yourself informed

When you are well informed about hurricanes in a timely manner, you’ll be able to plan ahead your needed actions and greatly minimize your risk from the devastation.

Nowadays there are several ways to get the latest weather-related news and information. We have local TV broadcasts, newspapers, blogs, social media, newsletters, and FM/AM broadcasts to name a few. Perhaps the best way to get notified is leveraging the internet, specifically social media, which a great majority of us have already at least 1 personal account. By utilizing our mobile devices’ notification, information can easily reach to our attention with minimal effort. 

Compared to other mediums such as TV, FM, or AM broadcasts where weather-related news can only be seen or heard at certain times of the day, readily available information from the internet and social media right at our fingertips is the most practical. 

So how can you stay informed through social media? Let’s highlight Facebook as it is the biggest social media platform.

• Step 1: Know your country’s national weather service.

• Step 2: Search them at Facebook. When found, ensure their weather or hurricane-related posts are up to date. Otherwise, find another page to follow.

• Step 3: Like and Follow their page.

• Step 4: Then click the down arrow beside “Following”, then select “See First” and “On Highlight Posts”. This ensures that the latest updates get seen first at your news feed.

If you’re from North America, a good Facebook page to follow is “NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center”. You can also visit their website here.

From Europe, a good Facebook page to follow is “Severe Weather Europe”. You can also visit their website here.

Facebook also suggests other related pages such as below. You can check them out and see which ones give up-to-date information.

Remember, the key here is to position yourself to be able to get fresh news all the time.

2: Secure your valuables and documents

Locate your valuables inside the house in strategic and set locations. Typically these are wallets, keys, mobile phones, laptops, jewelries, and hard-copy documents. This way when there’s a call from the local government for the need to evacuate as the hurricane approaches, you can quickly gather and pack up your valuables without much thought. 

For your important documents, save them in your cloud storage such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox. If your important documents are hard copies, you should scan them or take pictures (in lieu of scanning) as backup copies so that you can save them in your cloud storage.

The good thing about using cloud storage is that you can easily access your files over the internet from any computer or mobile device anywhere in the world. 

You can also keep local copies of your important documents on your computer, while still retaining updated copies over the cloud storage. In order to sync your local copies and cloud copies, you need to install the desktop app of your cloud storage then point the local folder as the source. This way, your local files get automatically synced to the cloud storage and vice versa.

From your mobile device, you can also install the mobile app of your cloud storage provider. Once installed, you’ll be able to view, upload, or delete from your mobile device, again anywhere in the world. The files from your cloud storage will not be synced to the local storage of your mobile device. So no need to worry that it can gobble up your phone’s storage.

If you are not familiar with setting up a cloud storage, the links below are good starting point for any cloud storage service you desire.

Google Drive setup

Microsoft One setup

Dropbox setup

3: Tidy up your house

Examine the perimeter of your house to identify potential risks.

If there’s a nearby tree, trim down the branches to minimize risk for it falling down towards your house.

If you have items or structures that can catch wind and cause hazards then take it down and secure it properly.

Clear off drains and gutters for best water dissipation.

Reinforce weak points around the house that may shake, or worse, collapse. [4]

4: Set and evacuation plan 

An evacuation plan for you and your family is needed just in case your local government or local crisis management team (CMT) requires people to evacuate. 

Here are some tips:

1. Plan which family members carry which supplies and survival kit. A survival kit for the bag-out bag is discussed below. 
2. Stand-by for the evacuation instructions to be given by your local government or CMT.
3. When the evacuation comes, orient your family members on what you all need to do and where you all would go, based on the instructions to be given by the local government or CMT. 
4. If you have kids, elderly and pets, provide them an identification card that contains every family member’s name and contact information. This is necessary in case a family member gets separated with you.
5. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there are extra precautions you and your family need to do when evacuating to a public disaster shelter. Read more from this link to be prepared.

5: Gather supplies and survival kit

Your house at a minimum should have the basic supplies listed below. After a hurricane, stores may be closed for a day or two so it is important that you stock up for at least 3 days.

Below are the supplies and items you’ll need to prepare.

1. Drinking water with 1 gallon budget per person per day
2. Food that is easy to prepare, or ready-to-eat
3. Medications especially maintenance meds
4. Flashlights 
5. Battery-powered or hand-crank radio 
6. Extra batteries for your flashlights, radio and other electronics
7. Charged up power banks for your mobile phone
8. Toiletries and personal hygiene items
9. List of emergency contacts in hardcopy for each family member
10. Extra cash
11. First aid kit
12. Water purification tablets
13. Full tank of gas for your vehicles
14. Extra set of car keys and house keys
15. Clean clothes, towels 

If you have family members with special needs such as infants, elederly, pets, and those with medical conditions, you need to stock up the supplies that they uniquely need. These may include but not limited to – 

16. Medical tools and supplies (e.g. thermometer, medicines, hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses, syringes, etc)
17. Baby supplies (bottles, milk formula, food, diapers, medicines, vitamins)
18. Pet supplies (food, medicines, collar with ID and contact number)

Below are some additional supplies to keep at home or in your survival kit.

19. Tools & supplies for emergency fixes and repairs for electrical, plumbing, or carpentry
20. Whistle
21. N95 or surgical masks
22. Sanitizers 
23. Matches
24. Rain gear
25. Towels
26. Work gloves
27. Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
28. Plastic sheeting
29. Duct tape
30. Scissors
31. Household liquid bleach (can disinfect water as well)
32. Blankets or sleeping bags
33. Map(s) of the area and navigation tools
34. Pocket tools such as Swiss army knife
35. Two-way radios [5]

Set aside a survival kit for your bug out bag, which you would need to bring if you need to evacuate. A survival kit is a collection of items that are the most essential for survival (as the name implies). There is no one-size-fits-all survival kit as each individual may have different needs, and also there is a limited amount of items that an individual can carry in a bug-out bag. Most of the items listed above can fill your survival kit in your bug-out bag. I would say items 1 to 18 are the most important.

READ MORE: Effective Survival Kit – What to gather and how to maintain it?

Conclusion:

When we are prepared, we have a much greater chance to go through the disaster unscathed. Our family would experience least inconvenience and we will be in a better position to bounce back.

Bibliography

[1] Mitch: The Deadliest Atlantic Hurricane Since 1780. (n.d.). National Climatic Data Center Archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20120717103126/http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/reports/mitch/mitch.html

[2] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (n.d.). Hurricane Costs. Office of Coastal Management. Retrieved August 31, 2020, from https://coast.noaa.gov/states/fast-facts/hurricane-costs.html

[3] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2020, January 7). What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon? National Ocean Service. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/cyclone.html#:~:text=The%20only%20difference%20between%20a,location%20where%20the%20storm%20occurs.&text=Once%20a%20tropical%20cyclone%20reaches,storm%20originates%20in%20the%20world.

[4] Ready.gov. (n.d.). Hurricanes. https://www.ready.gov/hurricanes

[5] American Red Cross. (n.d.). Hurricane Safety. Redcross.Org. https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit-supplies.html