Preserving Your Family Documents

In a disaster where you might have to leave your home quickly, important documents may be left behind and ultimately destroyed. Before the emergency occurs, decide which records are most essential to you and your family. One factor to consider is how readily a lost record could be replaced. Loss of some records could result in major financial damage (like tax records), or would be irreplaceable (like family photographs and historical documents).

The following is a list of the documents you should safeguard and be able to retrieve quickly to take with you.

• Licenses or other IDs
• Social Security Cards
• Passports
• Medical history information and health insurance cards
• Immunization records
• Birth, marriage and death certificates
• Records of bank accounts
• Credits card information
• Insurance policies
• A list of important or valuable belongings
• Wills, contracts, deeds
• Records of stocks, bonds or retirement accounts
• Back up of key computer files

In order to ensure that you can quickly retrieve these documents, it is suggested that you:

• Keep these documents (or copies of these documents) in a water or fire proof container with your disaster kit
• Keep them in a safe place away from home, like a safe deposit box
• Be sure trusted family members know where these items can be found

There are many ways to prepare your essential records for an emergency. Whatever method you use, remember to keep your records updated. At the very least, choose one day each year to make certain they are current and ready to evacuate.