Tips for Collecting Emergency Documents

This fact sheet is designed to provide a checklist for activities for Collecting Emergency Documents to improve your emergency preparedness in an earthquake.It is designed to be used in conjunction with Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco's general EARTHQUAKE TIPS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, EARTHQUAKE TIPS FOR PEOPLE WITH A SPECIFIC DISABILITY (i. e., Mobility, Visual, Communication, Cognitive, Psychiatric, Hearing, etc.) and TIPS FOR CREATING EMERGENCY HEALTH INFORMATION CARD. Without all four tip sheets, you do not have all the information you need to be prepared. Preparation may seem like a lot of work. It is. Preparing does take time and effort. So do a little at a time, as your energy and budget permit. The important thing is to start preparing. The more you do, the more confident you will be that you can protect yourself, your family, and your belongings.

DATE COMPLETED / ACTIVITIES

__________ Complete an Emergency Contact List.
__________ Collect Emergency Documents.

__________ Store Emergency Contact List and Documents in emergency supply kits, wallet, safe deposit box and give copies to personal support network and out of area contact.

__________ Update Every 6 Months

Emergency Contact List

• Ask several relatives or friends who live outside your immediate area (approximately 100 miles away) to act as a clearinghouse for information about you and your family after a quake. It is often easier to place an out-of-state long distance call from a disaster area, than to call within the area. All family members should know to call the contact person to report their location and condition. On e contact is made, have the contact person relay messages to your other friends and relatives outside the disaster area. This will help to reduce calling into and out of the affected area once the phones are working. (See attached worksheet.)

Emergency Documents (includes important information typically needed after a disaster).

• Copies of Emergency Documents Should Include:
  Specifications for adaptive equipment (in case it needs to be replaced)
  ¨ Proof of ownership or lease of your residence. (This is important when applying for disaster assistance after the quake.)*¨ Social security numbers of family members.*
  ¨ Vehicle, boats, etc. make, identification and license numbers.*
  ¨ Charge and bank account numbers.*
  ¨ Insurance policy numbers.*
  ¨ Securities, deeds and loan numbers including company name, address and telephone numbers.*
  ¨ Will/living trust and letter of instructions.*
  ¨ Photos or video of all valuables for documentation of insurance claim. (This inventory should be backed up on disk if it is on computer. Consider documenting your inventory by going through your areas with a video or camera and capture all your possessions on film.)*
  ¨ Important business documents.'
  ¨ Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates).*
  ¨ List style and serial numbers of medical devices such as pacemakers.

* Store these documents only in your home emergency supply kit.

Store Emergency Documents

• Store Emergency Contact List and Emergency Documents in a tightly sealed freezer bag in emergency supplies. Send a copy to an out of state contact and keep another copy in safety deposit box.
• Additional copies of Emergency Contact List and all Emergency Documents (except for those followed by an *) should be stored:
  ¨ in emergency carry with you supply kits
  ¨ in wallet
  ¨ give to personal support network
  

Update Every Six Months (i.e. when you change the clocks).

• Emergency Health Information Card
• Emergency Contact List

Developed and Distributed By
Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco
70 10th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
415-863-0581, TTY 415-863-1367, FAX 415-863-1290
In cooperation with June Kailes, Disability Consultant
through a grant from The American Red Cross’
Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network