Ask yourself: if an earthquake struck hard today, would your inventory, operations, and employees be safe? Are you fully prepared for an earthquake of any magnitude to strike?
If not, get earthquake ready immediately. The danger with earthquakes is that unlike hurricanes, floods, or wildfires, there are no warning factors that one could be on its way. Once the earthquake is here, it’s here, and if you’re not prepared you could be hit with severe property damage, injury, and business interruption.
Learn how to prepare your business for an earthquake now, before the earthquake strikes.
Have a Survival Kit
If a strong earthquake strikes, your office may be without electricity, internet, phone, water, gas and sewage services for possibly several weeks. A basic natural disaster survival kit will cover you fast with essential supplies during an emergency.
A kit may contain the following:
- Water (one gallon per person, per day)
- Non- perishable food
- Flashlight
- Battery-powered radio
- Extra batteries
- First aid kit
- Medications/medical items
- Multi-purpose tool
- Personal hygiene items
- Copies of personal documents
- Cell phone with chargers
- Family and emergency contact information
- Extra cash
- Blanket
- Maps of the area
Prepare Your Team
Host staff meetings to discuss safety measures during and immediately after an earthquake. Go over the basics like dropping, covering and holding on throughout a quake and through aftershocks.
Establish safe places in your office for people to move to during an earthquake such as using certain furniture or walls, away from windows and large pieces of furniture that could fall. Secure wall decor, mirrors, cabinets and pieces of furniture to their foundation. Bolt and brace gas appliances and water heaters to wall studs.
Make a Response Plan
Develop a plan for who will be responsible for what during and right after a quake. Review the protocol together and practice safety drills. Reach out to employees with disabilities to see if any special arrangements would be needed.
Discuss what you will do and where you will meet if your building becomes seriously damaged. Include an evacuation plan with the location of emergency exits and office earthquake kits.
Perform a Risk Assessment
Perform a risk assessment to determine how ready your company is for an earthquake or other natural disaster. There are many seismic risk-focused firms throughout the U.S. to call for a professional earthquake vulnerability analysis.
Determine if You Can Stay in Business
Stay in business if you can, especially if you serve local community members who could need your goods or services in the wake of a major earthquake. Determine which employees, procedures, materials and equipment are required to keep your business operating.
Figure out what is critical to the survival and recovery of your company. Consider emergency payroll, expedited financial decision-making and accounting systems in place to cope with documentation of disaster costs.
Secure Important Documents
Always keep copies of important documents and records in a fireproof and waterproof portable safe. These documents could include bank account statements, insurance policies, supplier and shipping contact lists, identifying employee information, computer backups and any other essential records. Now days, you can even store documents in the cloud, meaning to store on the internet instead of a hard drive.
About Scott Litman Insurance Agency
At Scott Litman Insurance Agency, we are dedicated to protecting HOA’s like yours. We have a unique understanding of the industry and the common risk exposures that you face in your daily operations. In fact, we find that 90% of the policies we review are missing coverages that violate the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R), exposing the board, HOA and management to lawsuits– which is why our comprehensive policies are tailored to meet your specific needs at competitive prices. For more information about our products, contact our experts today at (818) 879-5980 ext. 201, or fill out our online form.
