Disaster Planning for the Hurricane Season - Pure Water for Natural Disasters

The hurricane season will be upon us shortly and it is wise to begin preparations for all consequences associated with these catastrophic events. Timely and proper planning will avoid much of the stress resulting from hurricane damage and may well avoid injury and loss of life.

The Hurricane Season

Many people do not realize that the hurricane season is lengthy and spans the six month period from June 1 to December 1 each year. The frequency of major storms has been escalating recently in cycles that increase and decrease over 10 to 20 year periods. Most weather forecasters acknowledge that we are presently in a cycle of increased hurricane activity with the potential for as many as 15-17 named storms forecasted in 2006.

Areas of Risk

Hurricanes and tropical storms are a worldwide phenomenon. The storms affecting the United States and the Caribbean are called hurricanes while the storms in the Pacific are called typhoons and tropical storms in the Indian Ocean are designated tropical cyclones. Low lying coastal areas are at increased risk but inland areas as far as 200-300 miles can still suffer heavy damage.

In the United States the coastal areas of the Southeast are at risk and all areas of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico have historically seen extensive storm damage; areas as far north as Massachusetts and Rhode Island have suffered direct hurricane hits. In 2006, at least one major storm is forecasted to hit the Middle Atlantic and Northeast states.

Hurricanes are Serious Events

Anyone who has experienced a hurricane will attest to the fact that these are serious weather events.

Hurricanes are ranked from category 1 (sustained winds in excess of 78mph) to category 5 (sustained winds in excess of 155mph); even a category 1 storm can create extensive damage. Damage from the wind, flooding and storm surges can destroy buildings and cause widespread flood damage. By far the most serious cause of impairment, however, is the storm surge created by wind pressure and wave action. Storm surges as high as 30 feet are not uncommon in major storms.

In 2005 a category 3 storm (Katrina) destroyed a large portion of New Orleans and, notwithstanding substantial Federal Government aid, the area has yet to recover. In 2004 a deadly category 5 storms (Ivan) destroyed many of the homes and buildings on a number of islands in the Caribbean and the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Ivan was particularly dangerous with 24 hours of sustained winds of 165 mph and wind gusts recorded as high as 207mph. With a storm surge of over 20 feet, approximately 1/3 of a particular island was covered by water and disappeared from radar as the storm passed.

Hurricanes generally result in at least some loss of life both at sea and on land even for relatively minor storms, however, major storms can be much more devastating. At the turn of the twentieth century, an unnamed storm took the lives of between 6,000 to 10,000 people in Galveston, Texas. The worst recorded loss of life resulted from a tropical cyclone that hit East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) with over 200,000 lives lost.

At a minimum, hurricanes result in the loss of water service, electrical power and communications for a period of time during and after the storm. Frequently, this period can extend for weeks and even months in some cases.

Modern Technology is Good News

Modern computer technology and forecasting techniques have increased the period of warning that allows preparation for the impact of the storm. These types of warnings allow preparation and even evacuation in the event of a powerful, threatening storm.

For those who remain in place during a storm, advance preparation is required in order to survive the aftermath of the storm. This requires stockpiling of the proper supplies prior to the storm because demand for supplies immediately before a storm increases rapidly and shortages occur. Therefore, advance preparation is the key to survival success.

A Three Step Disaster Plan

In order to survive a hurricane disaster, proper planning is critical and takes enormous effort. In addition to assembling supplies as early as possible, a plan must be devised and also practiced. A simple but effective plan developed by The Harvard Medical School is as follows:

1) Collect disaster supplies

The devastation incurred by Hurricane Katrina is graphic evidence of just how destructive natural disasters can be. Those affected are without electricity, water, domestic gas, telephone and even shelter. To be prepared, collect the following items and store them so that they will easily be found in the event of an emergency -- but not so easily that you end up depleting the supplies without realizing it. Some people store these items in a section of the basement or a closet that is used infrequently.

Decide what will work best for you.

Disaster-supply list

-- Bottled water (1 gallon per person per day; three-day supply ideal)
-- Cash (ATM and credit cards may not work or be accepted by businesses)
-- Cellular phone (with no electrical charger, such as a car charger or AAA battery pack)
-- Clothing and underwear
-- Phone numbers of friends and family
-- Important Documents (driver's license, passport, birth certificate, etc.) in a waterproof container
-- Dust mask (one per person)
-- Eating utensils (plastic or disposable)
-- Emergency numbers: local, state and federal
-- Financial inventory (a list of bank and investment accounts, mortgages and loans, including account numbers and location of original documents)

-- First-aid kit (see "Your first-aid kit," below)

-- Flashlight with extra batteries
-- Food (canned goods and other nonperishable items that do not require cooking)
-- Masking tape, duct tape
-- Medical information (list of your medications, any chronic conditions, and medical history)
-- Medications (three-day supply of all daily medications)
-- Paper towels, toilet paper and sanitary products
-- Pet supplies and carrier (include food, water, leashes and records of shots)
-- Plastic sheeting
-- Radio (battery-operated) with extra batteries
-- Scissors
-- Sleeping bags or blankets (one per person)
-- Toiletries (soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc.)
-- Tools (can opener, knife, pliers; a Swiss army knife may suffice)
-- Trash bags

2) Create a portable supply kit

In case you have to evacuate your home, it is good to put the supplies you think you would need the most in a portable container. Some people try to fit all of the supplies listed above in a large rolling trash can with a lid or a large rolling cooler. Another option is to store the items in several small coolers or boxes. Think about what supplies you need, what you can reasonably carry or store in your car, and how many people will be available to help you transport the supplies.

3) Develop and practice an emergency plan
All the planning in the world will not do much good if you do not prepare ahead of time. Not only does this enable you to go through your plan while you are calm and thinking clearly, but it also enables you to modify it before you have to put it into action.

-- Identify emergency evacuation routes and shelters in your community and near your workplace.
-- Decide where family members should meet if you are separated in an emergency.
-- Identify a backup location to meet at, in case the first location is impossible to reach.
-- Identify a point-person in the family who will serve as the central contact to call in case of confusion.
-- Choose an out-of-state friend or relative to serve as a backup contact, in the event that local lines are tied up or out of service.
-- Provide every member of the family with a cellular phone or prepaid phone card to make sure they can make a call in the event of an emergency.
-- Consider family members with special needs while making plans. (For example, who will help someone in a wheelchair?) Do not forget your pets, either. (For example, where can you leave pets if you have to evacuate to a hotel that does not allow them?)
-- Practice the plan at least once per year.

**Water is Critical**

Source: Harvard Medical School (hms.harvard.edu)

Of all the supplies listed the most critical by far is an adequate supply of drinking water. Everything else (including food) is secondary to water because the body needs a large and continuous supply of fresh water. After a hurricane, water service is interrupted for lengthy periods of time because of lack of power and the fact that existing water supplies are often polluted. Pure and fresh water is mandatory to ensure proper hydration and avoid disease spread through polluted water.

Plan to collect and store water supplies that exceed the minimum and use the highest quality water possible. Ultra-pure distilled water can be stored for long periods because there are no minerals or bacteria in the water; supplies can be maintained almost indefinitely if stored in a cool dark place.

Estimate supplies for more than your immediate needs because in times of emergency and hurricanes many people move to safer structures or higher ground, which may burden existing supplies of safer locations.

Plan for the worst as your life and well being may be at stake. 

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Diversity is Key in Retirement Planning

When it comes to planning your financial retirement diversity really is the key to turning a significant profit. You do not want to have all your eggs in one basket. For this reason, it is an excellent idea to have a number of fingers in a number of pies, financially speaking of course, at any given time. There happen to be a lot of interpretations, unfortunately, of what it means to truly diversify your investment portfolio.

There are those who believe that to diversify your portfolio you only need to choose stocks in various sectors rather than focusing on one. This was a huge problem when the Dot Com boom went Dot Bust. Many people learned valuable lessons during this time frame and have taken it a little bit to heart.

However, there is nothing to say that we will never again experience a significant stock market crash. If this were to happen and your entire retirement hopes, dreams, and funds rested on the stock market for salvation you would be in deep and shark infested waters financially as a result.

I do not mean to imply that a stock market crash is probable or imminent by any means. The closest we've come as a nation to a stock market crash in recent memory was immediately after 9-11. The good news is that safeguards were put into place years ago to prevent a crash of the scale that we all know as "The Crash".

This means that while you may take heavy hits, chances are the market will recover if you are willing and able to wait it out. However, if you are putting yourself in a position to rely solely on stocks you need to take a serious look at your overall investment plan and see where changes can be made.

It goes without saying that no decision in regards to your financial future should be made without first discussing them with your financial advisor. My purpose here is to bring up questions and ideas you might wish to consider or at the very least discuss with your advisor.

My personal preference is to have some money tied up in mutual funds and other money tied up in real estate, which can provide some form of continuous income month after month. I'm not much of a gambler however and have chosen a low-risk path to retirement financing and funding. There are those who are far more adventurous than I when it comes to investing in their financial futures.

For those of you who are willing to take the risks, there are securities as an investment in order to provide a wildly speculative ride. Securities are very risky for investors; particularly those who are novices and even some seasoned investment veterans tend to shy away from this sort of investment. If you do invest in securities, I strongly urge you not to risk your entire investment on them.

Mutual funds provide a little safer bet when it comes to your financial future. Again there are no guarantees but these are much safer bet than securities. The problem with mutual funds for many is that there are so many from which to choose that it is still a difficult decision for beginning investors to make. These decisions are the reason that a good financial advisor is so terribly important when mapping out your financial destiny.

All in one fund are essentially collections of mutual funds. These provide a safe bet for those who wish to find an easy investment possibility that is a fairly safe (if not wildly conservative) to place your money and watch it slowly grow over time. All in one fund do tend to become less aggressive in time. This means that as you age, they will become more conservative in the placement in your money in an effort to best protect it while still growing your money.

By placing a little of your money in many different places, you will see a much greater safety net when it comes to protecting your profits. Discuss your plans with your financial advisor and any concerns that you may have. Chances are they can help clear up any questions or doubts that you may have.

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Without Workforce Planning, Your Organization Could Become Extinct

Workforce planning is a key workforce management step for long-term survival in a situation where workers are aging or leaving, and business environments are constantly changing.

You need to replace over aged workers and workers who leave. You also need to adapt to new business environments by getting people with needed skills.

Workforce Planning Goals

Existing workload determines current workforce levels. So the first step of workforce planning is to assess this workload, its skills set composition and location requirements. To assess this requirement, you answer the following questions:

What kinds of skilled workers do you need to achieve your organizational purpose?

How are many persons with each kind of skill needed to achieve targeted performance levels?

Where would these persons be needed - geographically and departmentally?

Answering the above questions is only the starting point of workforce planning. A complete plan would also identify the strategies needed to get the people required to man your workforce and to keep the people with you.

For the longer-term, you need to estimate:

The number of workers who would retire or leave and have to be replaced.

Additional numbers of differently skilled persons who would have to be added to meet expansion needs.

Likely developments affecting your business and the likely changes in the number and composition of your workforce under the new environments.

Workforce planning is a continuous process that needs to be updated as the requirements and forecasts change.

Implementing the Workforce Planning Process

The key requirement for successful workforce planning is to get your managers to understand the significance and key importance of workforce planning. Without their active involvement, you cannot expect to develop realistic plans that are affected by diverse factors.

Create a workforce planning team consisting of employees from different departments, with required knowledge and interests. Define the team's role and responsibilities.

Use modern software tools and planning systems to speed up the processes of data collection, analysis and generating preliminary plans. These can then be human-reviewed for fine-tuning.

Start carefully with a smaller scope, review the processes, get feedback and improve the effectiveness of workforce planning exercise.

In the case of large enterprises with geographically spread operations, the workforce planning exercise should be decentralized and the unit plans should be consolidated.

Workforce Recruitment and Development Strategies

Workforce planning is not just an exercise with numbers, though numbers are important. You have to look at the labor market and competitive conditions, and develop strategies to attract and retain the kind of workforce you need.

Think through the policies and practices you need to attract and retain talented people. Build your brand as a good place to work in. Create working conditions and a managerial culture that would make your people want to remain with you.

Spell these out and include them in your workforce plan.

Conclusion

For organizations to survive in the long term, they must be able to attract the right kind of talented persons and to keep them. Workforce planning helps you to assess your people needs, in both skill sets and numbers, and start developing and implementing strategies and policies to attract, develop and keep the kind of workforce you need.

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Vital steps in preparation for an industrial emergency

First things first, the fact of the matter is that there are great benefits to be had when there are guidance and ample preparation in cases of an emergency.

Planning and preparation help industries and corporation discover any hazardous problems or conditions that could be unrecognized and if not paid attention to could possibly aggravate a situation.

When there is preparation, deficiencies are immediately brought to light.

Some of these deficiencies could include resource-lack (e.g. lack of personnel that is adequately trained, lack of supplies, lack of equipment, to name a few). Knowing these details beforehand helps correct any lack in the soonest possible time.

It also prevents major losses and casualties as well as financial organizational collapse.

Another advantage of preparing for an industrial emergency is that it helps promote appropriate safety and awareness among the workers as well as present a company that is concerned with the welfare of all its staff.

The following are some of the needed steps designed to assist industrial plants as well as businesses in preparing for any type of emergency.

Establish a team

As much as possible, set-up a good planning team. A leader, as well as a staff, must be chosen as based on their appropriate capabilities and skills.

Particular tasks should also be assigned to teams or individuals.

Analyze hazards and capabilities

It is also important to assess the preparations the industrial plant or the organization currently has against risks such as power failure, damage in structures, among others.

In an emergency such as flooding, contacting the manager of the local floodplain as well as other flood officials helps organization and industries learn the risks involved.

Using building materials that are flood-resistant, erecting a physical barrier as well as anchoring structures and tanks is one of the ways to prepare in advance for flood emergencies.

Meanwhile, preparing for high winds is by reinforcing the roof as well as the side panels. Covering windows is also important, covering the doors and removing any objects that are loose from the industrial plant's site is a must.

Have a backup

As much as possible, have a backup emergency power such as a battery storage, power, and heat system combined. It is also vital that contact utility info is obtained in case of a power outage.

The plan should be developed

It is important that there is a plan developed during, before as well as after a particular emergency. Protocols should be established for the welfare of the employees, especially their safety and similarly the readiness of the site.

Emergency power should also be updated as well as the options for power supply. Communication emergency systems must also be established.

Responsibilities for each staff with regards to the recovery, shutdown and restart procedure should be outlined.

An evacuation plan should also be developed including employee support. Procedures on shutting down the utility and the safe processing of operations is a necessity.

Methods in protecting records, inventory and materials must also be developed.

Plan implementation

Staying in touch with the operations emergency center in your own state is important.

In this stage, the appropriate preparation, shutdown, emergency backup and evacuation should be started.

All in all, the final stage is the recovery process and the assessment of the damages brought by the emergency as well as in prioritizing needed repairs. Hopefully, the procedures above helps in the adequate preparation of industries and organization.

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Event Planning 101 for Dummies

Have you ever been in charge of ordering food for a whole lot of people? Or perhaps you have been tasked with the responsibility of making sure that everyone is comfortable or there are enough chairs and seating arrangements for everyone at the event you are attending. Whatever the situation, chances are that we have had some sort of event planning experience in our lives whether we actually realized it or not. On the other hand, if you have had no experience in event planning yet have to take on a group of 100 people and attendees then it can be a very difficult task to know what to do first and how to arrange everything that needs to be done! Here is some important information to consider, though, about the whole ordeal:

Use Professional Contacts

The first thing that you'll want to do when event planning is to make sure that there are enough activities going on for everyone. This may involve being able to get entertainers to perform, making sure that there is enough food for everyone to eat, as well as making sure that everyone has enough elbow room in the whole building or space that the event will be held at. The best thing to do in a situation like this would be to just start someplace and make the event grow.

In other words, one method that many people use is to simply look up names of professional contacts in the phonebook and start calling. Once you start calling those people who are usually entertainers or speakers at large events or contacting businesses to see if they would be able to provide enough food for everyone then your event planning skills are all the better and the whole event will start to take shape!

Don't Leave Out the Basics!

Of course, you also don't want to be caught up in the details of the event planning for the day that you don't even think about the basics. One issue that is often forgotten about is how many cars will be coming to the event and whether or not there will be enough parking room. Furthermore, are the directions to the event clear-cut or do some clarifications need to be made by sending out small, printable maps to the guests and attendees coming to the event?

Get Others Involved!

On the day of the event you naturally don't want to be running around like a fool trying to get everything to be done, so getting the proper help is necessary to keep your event planning cool! If you even have to outsource some of the jobs on the day of the event then it would be perfectly okay to do so, but there may also be volunteers that are ready and standing by to help. Asking around never hurts and you just never know how much help you'll be able to receive!

All of these ideas are crucial in order to make event planning easier on yourself and anyone who gets involved! There are so many things to think about, but making sure that you stay calm in the process is perhaps even more important!

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Vacation Event Planning on a Budget

Deciding to take a vacation can be one of the most fun things that you ever do in your life for yourself and for your family, however, event planning for the big vacation can be a big problem altogether. If you're trying to decide what would be fun for the whole family, yet are also trying to stick to a budget then there may be some conflicts with those two ideas. Nevertheless, though, event planning on a budget and choosing a fun place for your family is definitely possible, but it only takes a little bit of creativity and ingenious thoughts to pull off!

How Much Money to Spend

One of the definite things that you should consider when event planning for your vacation is how much money you'll spend in order to make it happen. Of course, how much money you spend involves the transportation getting to and from the place where you and your family will be staying, spending money on the trip for souvenirs and other gifts, as well as money for necessary expenses like food should all be separated into separate categories and divided up before the whole family goes on vacation. Deciding how much money is spent for the whole vacation and making a list of all the things that are important, such as those expenses described above, is very crucial to your event planning budget plan!

Decide How Long You'll Stay

Event planning for any type of vacation can be a difficult thing to do, but the first and foremost deadline that you'll want to set if you do have a budget is how long you'll stay at your destination. Many people simply think that they can plan open-ended vacations with no set departure date (especially if a car is being driven for transportation) but sticking to the budget should be the best plan possible if you don't have that much money already in the bank! Your whole vacation doesn't have to be ruined just because a deadline is set for the end of your vacation, but deciding when you'll leave your vacation is important to getting back home to school and work!

Giving Children Allowances

Vacationing for the whole family can often be a difficult thing to do. When event planning for the whole family's vacation, though, if it's important to stick to a budget then it is also important to make your children realize that there is a limited amount of money and resources that they are allowed to spend while on vacation also. Even though they may not realize the concept of a budget when taking your vacation (depending on how old they are), one good technique to use is to actually give them their whole allowance for the week and tell them that it is their budgeted allowance.

This way when they spend it all they will have to realize that all they had was all the money that you did give them.  All in all, event planning for a family vacation doesn't have to be a difficult task, although many people choose to make it one. Deciding on the specifics of a vacation, though, if a budget has to be stuck to, is a very important principle to not overspending!

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Why Event Planning Skills are Important

There are many things in life that are very important to our self-esteem and whether you actually know it or not there are actually plenty of characteristics that go along with owning an event planning business that may also be useful in real life as well. If you are not one of the professional event planners in the event planning industry then chances are that you don't know about all the specifics that go on within an event planner's life and daily routine.

However, there are many aspects of the event planning professional's personality that could benefit someone in their life apart from their event planning duties. Indeed, event planning skills are very important and here are some areas where the daily routine of an event planner may coincide with that of a regular individual.

Organization: many event planning professionals have some of the best organizational skills out of everyone in the business world and it seems as though their profession would even call it. Just as an event planner has to stay organized in order to know which of their scheduled events is the next day and which is the next week, so too are there plenty of opportunities and room for improvement in many other people's lives when it comes to organization.

In fact, an organization is one area in which many people struggle throughout their life. An event planning professional is a highly organized person and it is an important quality to emulate!

People Skills: Many people may turn down the job of an event planner simply because they realize that it requires a lot of people skills in order to succeed. However, the outgoing nature of someone who owns an event planning business is very key to thriving in the industry in the first place. One needs to have the self-esteem in order to contact individuals about large events that need to be planned, and they also need the confidence with which to do their job.

On the other hand, there are plenty of individuals who go throughout life with very low self-esteem, a low profile of self-worth and self-image, but these are areas that an event planner actually excels at!

Discipline and Control: These two qualities are very important for anyone who owns and controls an event planning business. There are many different scenarios where an event planner may have to display their discipline and control, but these two characteristics of their personality should actually show through throughout their whole career.

On the flip side, many non-event planners could take a lesson from the event planners in the industry simply because many people lack the discipline in order to get the things done that they need to have accomplished. Fostering that discipline within yourself, though, is one key to being a happier person altogether!

After everything is said and done, though, one can easily see where event planning skills are very crucial in everyday life for most people. Even though it's unrealistic to think that most everyone should become an event planner just to be able to have these skills, as human beings we definitely should take a lesson from them!

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