We like to think there's no place safer than home. But the sometimes harsh reality is that emergency situations can happen to any of us. Are you ready?
There's no place like home - unless there's a fire, a flood, a storm, or an earthquake. No matter where your home is, it pays to be safe and prepared.
Staying Safe at Home and Knowing What to Do
While most of us will be highly unlikely to be the victims of natural disasters common to the United States, a surprisingly large number of homes will potentially be.
According to an article at CNBC,
Roughly 35 million homes, or nearly a third of the nation’s housing stock, are at “high risk” of a natural disaster, according to a new study by CoreLogic.
Researchers at the real estate data firm looked at the combined severity and frequency of damage caused by natural disasters and created a composite risk score. This score represents the average annual loss for seven individual hazards for about 105 million residential structures across the country: earthquakes; wildfires; inland floods; severe convective storms; winter storms; hurricanes; and tropical storm coastal surge and wind.
Some of the other statistics highlighted in the CNBC news story are that twenty-two weather - or climate - related disasters each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
“Nearly every property in the U.S. has exposure to peril risk,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic.
And this study only considered common natural disasters. House fires, vehicles striking homes, and other possible but more rare events can also take their toll on residential structures and those occupying them.
A Safety Checklist for When You're at Home During an Emergency
Another unfortunate reality is that the vast majority of homeowners and families are woefully unprepared for an emergency.
A study published by Cambridge University Press found that,
Many respondents reported being somewhat or well prepared to provide food and water for their households during a large-scale disaster or emergency. Only 53% met Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines to have water last at least 3 days.
Households were generally prepared to provide food and, to a lesser extent, water in emergency situations, but were not consistently following FEMA guidelines.
With that in mind, we've put together a simple checklist to use as the start of your own home emergency preparedness project:
Share this Image On Your Site
There are a number of additional resources available to homeowners who want to know how to keep themselves and their homes safe, and how to stay safe in the unlikely event of some large natural disaster.
Junk Hauling and Removal for All of North America
Junk King provides efficient, safe and eco-friendly junk removal services that makes the process easy for you. Our experienced junk and trash removal teams have the resources necessary to haul off those large boxes, old furniture, and any other junk items quickly, easily, and cost-effectively.
And, best of all, we do all the heavy lifting!
You simply point and we haul your trash items into our junk removal trucks, with no hidden fees.
Junk King's courteous and professional junk hauling teams have the resources needed to haul off those large, bulky, and heavy junk items quickly and easily, along with any other junk you need to get rid of.
And we do it all without damaging any part of your home on the way out.
Our professional and insured junk removal and disposal team will call 15 to 30 minutes before we arrive at your home. And, once we’re there, we’ll give you a free quote based on how much room your junk will take up in our truck or rental dumpster.
So, ready to get rid of that junk? It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.
You can make an appointment by booking online above or by calling 1.888.888.JUNK (5865).
