With Tax Day rapidly approaching, making sure you are financially prepared for a disaster is very important when discussing emergency preparedness. Emergency preparedness means more than just determining the disasters in your community and storing enough water and food supplies. Insuring you and your family are financially ready for a disaster is just as important.

Follow these steps to become financially prepared for the next emergency:

• Plan early and use the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit to help identify important documents for your family (e.g. medical records, household contracts, etc.) and put them in a safe place
• Enroll in Go Direct, an electronic payment system to insure the quickest delivery of federal benefits
• Plan ahead of time to recover from the disaster. It’s important to insure your family has time to get back on their feet following a disaster

Once you and your family have financially planned for a disaster, there are ways to volunteer to help your community become prepared as well. If you are qualified to prepare taxes, reach out to your local nonprofit organizations and offer to help community members prepare their taxes for free.

For more information and resources on how to prepare financially for a disaster, please visit www.ready.gov/financial-preparedness .