Unfortunately, natural disasters a part of our lives and we will usually have little to no warning before they strike. This year was no exception, with the wildfires in California destroying more than 600 homes and Hurricane Lane in Hawaii forcing people to evacuate their properties. Additionally, climate change might very well cause a dramatic increase in natural disasters in the very near future.

When a natural disaster strikes, people often lose not only their homes but also all of their important documents, photos, and sentimental mementos. These losses are often unrecoverable and nearly always cause serious hardship.

Take a look at the map below. It shows the disaster zones based on the total number of natural disasters from 1995 to 2015.

Why this is important?

Since 1995 the total number of disasters in the United Sates alone is 472. Clearly, if you are located there you must consider taking care of your documents as the chances of losing them due to the natural disaster is high.

How to protect my documents?

First of all make sure you have copied or scanned everything important. You can put it all in a safe or safety deposit box, but in many cases even that will not be sufficient. Fire, earthquakes, and floods are all likely to destroy everything in your area. The best solution is to upload your documents into an online secure vault such as AfterVault. This way your vital documents, photos, videos and memories will be safe and you’ll be able to access them from anywhere.

With AfterVault you can use your phone, take a picture of the document and upload it. This will not only save you time, but also will give you the comfort of knowing that you’re prepared.

What if someone gets my documents?

We at AfterVault are aware of how important the security of our system is. That is why we closely follow the very highest value security practises. All AfterVault user data is encrypted using AES-256 which is as strong as any known encryption specification. AES-256 has been adopted by the U. S. government and is approved for use to convey top secret information by the NSA.

Make sure you take care of your vital documents. Don’t wait for the disaster to strike. It will take you just an hour or two to put your affairs in order. People rarely realize the risk and the consequences of losing their important documents. Safely store them in AfterVault.com, so you and your family can find them when you need that information the most.