By Molly Bull, Senior Communications Manager, Microsoft Disaster Response
If you had 5 minutes to evacuate your home do you know what you would take with you? Who would you contact? Where would you go?
We are just about a week into National Preparedness Month and already a number of informative articles, social media posts, and even contests have been published providing many great ideas and resources for building, or updating, your preparedness plan. There are a number of tips on the federal website, www.ready.gov/september, and be sure to join the conversation on Twitter! (#NatlPrep)
It is likely that the technologies you rely upon and use in your everyday life can also help you prepare now. Microsoft has a few solutions we would like to share with you in case you find them helpful to include in your plan. We wanted to kick off with a short video we put together to offer some general ideas for family emergency planning.
(Please visit the site to view this video)
What does your preparedness plan look like today?
I find a good way to test a plan is to think through real-life scenarios I might encounter should I find myself in the middle of a disaster. Here are some considerations and technology tools you may want to include in your own personal preparedness plan.
“How can I broadly reach my friends and family to let them know whether I’m okay or need help?”
HelpBridge is a free mobile app (Windows, Android, iOS) designed to connect people with loved ones by sending a single message to a pre-selected contact group. Whether a daily situation, such as a flat tire, or in response to a natural disaster, the app uses email, texting, Twitter and Facebook to let others know whether you need help, or are okay. Providing your GPS coordinates is an option, too. HelpBridge also provides ways people can help others through donations, text-to-give, and volunteer opportunities.
“How can I communicate with my friends and family if I don’t have access to my landline, or if my mobile phone calls aren’t going through?”
During disasters communication networks can sometimes become overwhelmed and Skype can be a valuable tool for making video and voice calls to other Skype users. You can also instant message or share files. Part of my personal preparedness plan includes the Skype mobile app so my emergency contacts and I can Skype through our smart phones in case we can’t access our computers.
“How can I protect and access important documents during an emergency?”
You can set up a OneDrive account, which can be accessed from any computer or mobile device with connectivity. Store things like birth certificates, insurance documents, and other essential files and make them searchable in a digital notebook like OneNote. This is also a great option for storing personal mementos and photos.
There are a couple other documents you might want to consider personalizing and saving to the cloud. Here you can find an Excel template that can get you started on creating a family preparedness plan, or if you’re a business owner, there is a Word template that can help you capture employee emergency information.
“How can I reliably store my medical information?”
HealthVaulthelps you gather, store, and share important health information for you and your family by creating an emergency profile. Here you can manage and track your family’s medical contacts, allergies, medication, immunizations, and health conditions. Through the site your medical providers can securely log in and see a full picture of your history and medical needs.
Also remember that social media can be a helpful way to get updates during a disaster. If you haven’t already, you may want to look to see if your local government has a Twitter account or other method that they use to push information to citizens during disasters.
www.microsoft.com/disasterresponse
@msftresponse