FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) recognizes the month of April as National Financial Capability Month and has prepared an emergency financial first aid kit to help you prepare in advance for an emergency.
When an emergency happens, your first focus is on your family’s safety. Once the immediate crisis has passed, having access to your home insurance, banking and other information will help you get back on your feet faster.
Some important aspects of your financial first aid kit include information about: household contacts and your identification, financial and legal documents, and medical records.
- Household identification and contacts help you contact family members; document employment information and prove your identity and potentially apply for FEMA disaster assistance. Examples include copies of photo ID or your Social Security card.
- Financial and legal documents help you show proof of income and insurance, maintain payments and credit, reestablish financial accounts or apply for disaster assistance. Examples of these include home insurance policies and recent tax statements.
- Medical records can help you have the right information to get prompt medical assistance in an emergency. These can include physician information or a current list of your medications (for everyone in the family including pets).
For each of these important aspects, FEMA’s Emergency Financial First Aid Kit can step you through what’s important and how best to record that information so that it is available after an emergency.
Download FEMA’s Emergency Financial First Aid Kit in:
- English
- English in large print
- Spanish
- Korean
- Vietnamese
- Chinese
Tigard CERT Inc. is a local non-profit organization allied with the City of Tigard that trains volunteers in basic emergency response and organizational skills following the Federal Emergency Management Agency model and guidelines for local Community Emergency Response Teams. For more information about Tigard CERT, please visit our website at tigardcert.wordpress.com.
