The time to prepare for a disaster claim is now, not after a disaster strikes. It is not really very hard to do and will help you and the insurance company to process your claim quicker and more efficiently, with less stress. You definitely want to be one of the first to have your claim settled. It will be settled faster and possibly more generously. After all, at first the insurance company is anxious to settle your claim quickly because they know they will eventually get bogged down with the thousands of claims they will have to handle. They may be willing to be a “little” more generous to the first claims settled. They want you to be happy and out of the way quickly so that they can close your file and move on to the next policy holders.

There will be thousands reporting claims in the first couple of weeks following a disaster. How can you be sure to be among the first settled? BE PREPARED! What do I mean by that? Do you remember in school and maybe still in large office buildings when there were fire drills? The reason for this was so everyone knew what they were expected to do in case of a disaster. The news and talk shows are always telling us to have drills for our families in case of fire, floods, hurricanes and other disasters. This is a great idea! But we are concerned now with after the disaster. The same idea applies.

First read your insurance policies- all of them. Pay attention to what is covered and especially to what is not covered. If something is not covered, damage by flooding or earthquake or some expensive antique, a piece of jewelry, etc. and you feel you need the coverage, this is the time to find it out, and not when you are stressed from the disaster. Look into it now, don’t wait. If you don’t understand your insurance make an appointment with your insurance agent. He or she will be happy to go over and explain what is covered and what is not covered by the policies that you have now. It will be well worth the time spent doing this if for no other reason than peace of mind.

Keep your receipts for all expensive items or items that are unique. Pictures are helpful too. If an item is old or you do not have a receipt for it, have it appraised. It is a lot easier and less costly to do now than after it is gone or damaged. Have several different copies of the pictures, receipts and appraisals. Keep one set handy at home so you can have it at a moment’s notice. (Take it with you if you can if you evacuate.) Put one in a safe deposit box in a bank or in a file at the office if one is available to you and also, if you have family or close friends that live away swap copies with them or scan copies to a cd and send it to them. This way, you are covered on all fronts. It may seem extreme but I have recently had a friend living with me, a victim of Katrina. She lost her home, her office was destroyed and the bank that housed her safe deposit box was damaged and did not open for 8 months. She could access her money from a branch of the bank but not what was in her safe deposit box. Had she sent copies of her papers to someone out of harms way, it would have helped. Also as a side note, safe deposit boxes are neither fireproof nor waterproof. Since they are in the vault, it would have to be an extremely hot fire to burn the things in the box but since water can get in you may want to keep any papers in plastic zip bags.

Tell family members where everything is and what your plans are in case of a disaster. If you have to evacuate and can’t return immediately or if you are injured and can’t take care of business for a while, they can have all the information that they need to get things started efficiently and to handle what they can as you would want them handled.

Charlene Mattel is founder of http://www.insurance-insurance.info and has worked in the insurance industry for almost 30 years. She understands how confusing all of the different insurance policies can be so she created a website to explain all types of insurance in plain English, to help you buy the policy and coverage that you really need and at the best price.