Good Practices in Disaster Risk Reduction for Homeowner

Posted on: Oct 20, 2022 | | Written by:

Good Practices in Disaster Risk Reduction for Homeowner

Published on October 18, 2022. EST READ TIME: 3 minutes

Disaster Risk Reduction Practices for Homeowner

There has been a surge in the number of natural disasters across the globe. In such times, curating an emergency plan for your family and taking a few steps to mitigate the risks is the best preparation that you can carry out. It is a must for homeowners who stay in places that are prone to natural disasters. These steps combined with an insurance policy for home will ensure better protection.

How to Prepare Your House for Natural Disasters

By taking a few precautionary steps, you can ensure that your house is safe during a natural disaster. Being proactive and taking a few measures will help you protect your house more efficiently. Building your house with materials that are fire-proof and wind-proof is one of the ways of ensuring better protection. However, it is not mandatory. There are a few simple steps that you can carry out to improve the safety of your home against natural disasters.

● Outdoor Furniture

Ensure that you tie down all the furniture that is outside, either on the porch or on the patio. This must be done before the storm hits. Other items that are a bit lose such as workout equipment, umbrella, grill, etc. should be moved inside the house. Perform another round of checks to make sure that toys, tools, and other items are not lying around outside when the storm hits.

● Sandbags

Sandbags are used heavily to divert streams of water. Thus, placing them around your doors or other flood-prone areas will help you ensure that water does not seep inside your home once the storm hits. Depending on the weather predictions and the kind of protection that you want, you can stack sandbags on top of each other. Create a wall of about a foot at least.

● Enhanced Doors and Windows

During extreme weather conditions such as tornadoes and hurricanes, debris can break your windows and doors can fly as well. It might be a good idea to install doors and windows that are wind-resistant and some shutters that are stormproof. A quick fix would be to stack up your doors and windows with plywood. An insurance policy for home can help you cope with any damages after the calamity.

● Prune Trees

Trees are known to cause a lot of damage during a storm. If you have trees in your garden or backyard, make it a point to prune them before the storms. Heavy branches of large trees can cause wreckage to the house and in some cases even injure people. It is a good habit to prune large trees and ask your neighbours to do the same as well.

● Utility Connections

There are several notifications before a storm hits to turn off your water, electricity, and gas connections. These can help you avoid any unwanted fire in the house. If you forget to turn off water and power lines, they can cause significant damage to the house. Make it a point to locate them and turn them off before the storm hits.

If there is any order to evacuate the house, do not forget to turn these connections off. Buying an insurance policy for home will ensure that your expensive furniture and appliances are safe in the house.

● Emergency Plan

It is always a good idea to come up with an emergency plan for your family, should a natural disaster occur. You can start by creating an emergency kit which can include water and food items that won’t perish in a short while. Similarly, get your medications in place, and charge power banks and backups.

Your plan should include an evacuation route along with an insurance policy for home documents and a checklist to secure the home. Keeping a hard copy of insurance documents is also essential.

● Secure Furniture In The House

Natural calamities such as earthquakes can have a lot of impact on your house. They can quite easily knock down furniture and appliances. While having earthquake insurance can make things a bit easier for you, make sure to secure them. You can use brackets to secure heavy furniture and appliances.

It will ensure that they don’t fall and cause additional damage and do not fall on children as well. If your house is in an earthquake zone, opting for earthquake insurance is a must.

● Fire Retardant Plants

You can adopt a few strategies to keep your house safe, especially in areas that are prone to wildfire. Such as using non-flammable materials like stone and cement for added protection. Plants in the backyard are also known to cause a fire. Thus, look for plants that aren’t flammable such as ice plants, aloe, Rockrose, shrub apples, sumac, and hedging roses. Similarly, cherry, maple and poplar trees are less flammable than fir and pine trees.

Reasons to Buy Home Insurance Plan

Another effective way to secure your house and the things inside it is by opting for a home insurance plan. Here are some of the prime reasons for buying a home insurance plan.

1. Natural Calamities

A natural disaster causing damage to your house is the worst possible nightmare that a homeowner can have. However, with home insurance for floods and other calamities, you no longer have to worry about hefty repair bills once the calamity is over. The lack of policy can translate to hefty expenses from your pockets. The plan will provide a financial cushion and ensure that you do not dig into your savings.

2. Valuable Items Cover

If you buy a comprehensive home insurance policy, it offers much better coverage. The cover is not limited only to the structure of the house but also its valuable items. The plan will cover all the expensive appliances that you have along with furniture as well. If they do get damaged during a calamity, you will receive compensation for the same.

3. Cover Against Man-Made Disasters

A comprehensive insurance plan can protect your house from natural calamities as well as man-made calamities. Any damages that arise due to vandalism, theft, terrorist attacks, strikes or riots are covered under the policy.

4. Legal Liabilities

Apart from the above, a home insurance plan also protects you against legal liabilities. The plan can protect you legally if there are any injuries in or around your house. It will cover any lawsuits and medical expenses arising out of accidents in or around the house.

Conclusion

Natural calamities can bring down a house or cause severe damage to it. The above are some of the measures that you can take to ensure better safety for your house, in the event of a natural calamity. With an increase in the number of natural calamities around the globe, buying an insurance policy for a home and most importantly, home insurance for floods and other natural calamities is much needed. Also, a home insurance plan will not set you back a lot financially and offer a lot of other features and benefits. The policy will help you to repair and rebuild your house once the calamity settles down.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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