Prepare your documents before an emergency
Make sure you have your important documents safe in case of an emergency.
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In this guide, we explain how you can make a plan to keep your important documents safe in an emergency.
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An emergency:
- is a dangerous situation
- is something we don’t expect to happen
- can put our health and safety at risk.
Make a plan to protect your documents
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You might not have time to get your important documents when there is an emergency.
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You should make a plan about:
- what documents you want to protect
- how you will protect them.
Choose the documents that are important to you
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Start by choosing which documents are important to you.
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For example, documents that:
- say who you are
- show that you own your home
- explain what medicine you need.
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We have a checklist to help you choose what documents to protect.
You can use the document checklist on our website.
Keep your documents somewhere safe
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After you decide which documents you want to protect, you need to work out how you will keep them safe.
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This is very important for documents that are printed.
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You might want to keep your important documents in one place.
This will make it easier for you to get them in an emergency.
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You could also keep the documents in your emergency kit.
This is a bag or box of things that will help you in an emergency.
You can find out how to make an emergency kit on our website.
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You should protect your documents from getting damaged during an emergency.
For example, you can put your documents in a:
- waterproof folder
- fireproof safe.
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You might want to keep your documents away from your home.
For example, with someone you trust.
Make digital copies of your important documents
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You can make digital copies of your important documents to help keep them safe.
For example, you can save copies of your documents:
- online
- on a computer.
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You can use the Service NSW app to keep digital copies of some documents.
For example, your Driver’s licence.
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You can also keep a digital copy of your Medicare card on the Express Plus Medicare app.
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There are other online services that you can use to:
- keep your documents safe
- get your documents from anywhere you have internet.
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You should make sure any online service you use protects the personal information in your documents.
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You can help keep digital documents safe by using:
- a strong password
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- multi-factor authentication.
Multi-factor authentication is when you use 2 different ways to log in to your account every time.
For example, setting up your service so a code goes to your phone every time you want to log in.
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You can also save digital documents to a USB stick.
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This will make it easy for you to take them with you if you need to leave.
You can also keep the USB stick in your emergency kit.
Other pages
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Other pages for you: