Preparing for Hurricane Season

FEMA Region 6 Urges You To Resolve To Be Ready During Hurricane Season 

New website offers preparedness facts, tips and tools

Release Date: May 26, 2011
Release Number: R6-11-070
» 2011 Region VI News Releases
DENTON, Texas -- Individuals and their families are urged to “resolve to be ready” this hurricane season. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Region 6 office has launched a new hurricane preparedness website to help you accomplish that goal. The website features facts about the 2011 hurricane season, as well as tools to help you execute crucial preparedness tasks such as assembling an emergency kit, formulating an individual and family plan and staying informed.
“We urge everyone to get ready now,” said FEMA Region 6 Administrator Tony Russell. “You should not wait until a disaster is imminent; it’s crucial that you take the necessary steps to prepare before a storm hits.”
You can visit the FEMA Region 6 Hurricane Preparedness website by logging onto www.fema.gov/about/regions/regionvi/updates.shtm.
 FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.  

Busines Insurance Advice - Be A Boy Scout!

If you were ever a Boy Scout as a kid, you know how important it is to be prepared. Prepared for what? For anything that life throws at you. It’s true when you’re camping in the woods and even truer when you’re running a business.

We really hope that your business is never affected by an earthquake, tornado, freak meteor from the sky or other natural disaster. But these things do happen, and an ounce of preparation before the unexpected can make picking up the pieces much easier.

·         Back up your data early and often at an offsite location. An external hard drive won’t help you if it is damaged or destroyed in a storm. Consider offsite data storage or storage in the cloud.

·         Make a comprehensive list of all of your equipment, furniture, and fixtures. It’s much easier to file your claim with a full list of your property. Pictures are even better!

·         Send electronic pictures to your agent to have attached to your e-file in their office.

·         Have a disaster preparedness plan. Do your employees know what to do and where to go in case of an emergency? What if you have customers in house when disaster strikes?

It’s estimated that 40 percent of businesses never reopen after a natural disaster. With a little planning and some help from an Erie property insurance policy, you’ll be back on your feet before you know it. Call us to talk about how you can protect your business.

-Darden, Miranda & Associates

Kissing Frogs?!?!?!?!

Finding the right insurance agent is an incredibly important decision—and it can be incredibly hard. There are dozens of factors to consider when choosing your insurance agent, and you might have to meet with several (including a few frogs) before you find one that fits your life, your style, and your situation. Many people may be tempted to choose an agent based solely on price. Price is a big consideration, but here are a few other items to consider when choosing an insurance agent:

• Listening: Does the agent pay attention to what you say, and take notes on your situation?
• Knowledgeable: Is the agent knowledgeable about the products he or she is offering? Can they answer your questions, or do they offer to find answers to questions they don’t know, rather than glossing over your concerns?
• References: Don’t be afraid to ask for references! It’s always important to see what the agent’s other policyholders have to say about them. If they can’t or won’t offer references, be wary.
• Courtesy: Did the agent come on time, or let you know that they’d be late? Did they treat you the way you’d want to be treated? If they can’t do these simple things on a sales call, how will they treat you when you have a claim?

Your relationship with your agent is important. We hope that you’ll give us a chance to sit down and talk to you about your insurance needs. We hope that we can prove to you that we’re the prince of insurance agents, and not the frog.

Welcome

Welcome to the Darden, Miranda & Associates Insurance Blog. Our intent is to provide useful information, advice, and industry tips to empower you as you learn to be a participant in your insurance strategy and not just a consumer of insurance products.

We hope you will find our posts helpful and we http://www.dardenmiranda.com/welcome any feedback, questions or comments you may have.

Many Thanks,

Darden, Miranda & Asoociates Insurance