How to be well-prepared for an emergency
4-minute read
Make sure you're well-prepared for an emergency by following four simple -- yet vital -- steps.
Download Emergency Preparedness Fact Sheets
With so much of our lives being reliant on connectivity and so much of our information now online, it's important to think about the impacts losing connectivity can have during a natural disaster or emergency event.
If you had to urgently leave your home and community to be safe, would you have all the things you need to take with you in one easily-accessible place?
For example, an emergency kit stocked with essential items like a charged, spare mobile phone that can be used if power is cut and nbn internet connectivity is lost.
And in the event that you can't return home because it's unsafe or your belongings have been lost, damaged or destroyed, would you have everything you need to prove you are you?
Back up what's important
When thinking about what's most important to save and have with us in an evacuation (after fellow household members and pets, of course), we usually think of items like treasures and family heirlooms, photos and mementoes.
While these are undoubtedly important on a personal level, there are other very important items that can be overlooked when reacting to an emergency.
Things like driver's licences, Medicare cards, utility bills, passports, bank statements, mortgage contracts and insurance policies.
These legal documents not only identify you and family members, they are also necessary when you need to lodge insurance claims or apply for emergency grant funding and short-term accommodation services.
So, consider making physical copies of these important documents and include them as part of your emergency kit, as well as uploading digital copies to a secure cloud-based storage service.
Having these documents readily accessible, even if physical copies are lost or destroyed, can help reduce stress during what is an already heightened emotional time.
Four steps to emergency preparedness
In addition to the above, there are three other vital steps communities should take to be prepared for an emergency:
Stay mobile
Put together an emergency kit with a charged mobile phone and portable mobile battery pack. This can help if you experience a power outage or if your nbn® network connection is disrupted in an emergency. Consider turning off mobile data on unnecessary apps to save the battery.
Stay updated
Local radio is a good source of information during an emergency, so include a battery-powered radio in your emergency communications kit. It's also worth following emergency services on social media and news channels. These may include your state fire, rescue and police services, and utility providers, such as nbn (@NBN_Australia).
Make sure you can access important information and essential documents from anywhere -- this could mean creating a digital back up on a USB drive, or saving them to the Cloud. These key pieces of information may include insurance policies and financial documents.
Test alternative options
For businesses and other community groups, you may want to consider investing in alternative communication and power options to keep your business or community group operating. It's also important to regularly test these alternatives to ensure they work when an emergency actually arises.
Every emergency is different, whether it's a fire, flood, storm or cyclone. Yet, the devastating effect they can have on individuals and communities is the same.
That's why we have made our emergency preparedness tips into easy downloadable resources to help support communities right across Australia.
How nbn prepares for emergencies
It’s not just individuals and communities that need to prepare for potential emergencies – it’s that time of year for us as an organisation too.
Nationally, we’ve been checking our Temporary Network Infrastrucuture is prepped and working before any potential deployment.
Our Emergency Management Liaison Officers (EMLOs) have been continuously training and improving their own preparedness. EMLOs play a vital role in keeping us connected with the agencies involved in emergency management year-round and, importantly, during emergency events.
Finally, and most critically, our national team of nbn Local representatives are ready to be our eyes and ears on the ground, as well as community advocates, to ensure our resources and people are being used in the most effective way possible before and after disaster events.
They live, work and breathe the community spirit that binds so much of our regional towns and communities together.
nbn's Network on Wheels deployed in the field following a bushfire.
Be prepared – start now
If you haven’t started your own emergency preparedness plan, now is the time.
Make a list of what needs to be done.
Test your residential evacuation and business continuity plans.
Get all of your important identifying documents and other important information together, make copies and upload them to a cloud-based service.
We understand the important role our network plays in helping to keep people, businesses and communities connected, and are continuing to improve our network’s resiliency and response to emergency events.
Together, we can be well-prepared for an emergency.