Your life can change in the blink of an eye.
With the 2025 destructive spring tornado season underway, and Hurricane Season approaching the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH)® is offering the Strong Homes Scale (Scale), a groundbreaking new tool designed to help homeowners assess their home’s ability to withstand six natural disasters.
On March 25, 2025 the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH)® launched Strong Homes Scale (Scale), a groundbreaking new tool designed to help homeowners assess their home’s ability to withstand six natural disasters, including earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and winter storms. The Scale and new tools are part of the enhanced InspectToProtect.org platform that empowers users with information to answer the questions, “How will my home hold up in a disaster?” and “How can I make it stronger?”
The nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) invites experts to submit presentations for consideration by the National Disaster Resilience Conference (NDRC24) committee. Set to take place from November 20 to 22, 2024, in Clearwater Beach, Florida, the conference seeks to explore innovative approaches and programs that drive advancements in resilience policy, practice, science, and engineering.
Preparing for potential disasters is crucial no matter where you call home. Families can enhance their safety and home resilience by using these free and low-cost ways to strengthen their homes against a variety of perils. From earthquakes and extreme heat to floods, hail, hurricanes, tornados, and wildfires, these top mitigation strategies are accessible on the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) website FLASH.org.
In an effort to enhance earthquake preparedness and resilience among businesses and organizations, FEMA, San Diego County Office of Emergency Services, and the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) are pleased to announce registration is open for the free QuakeSmart Preparedness Workshop.
Now in its 25th year, the event will bring together private and public sector leaders, nationally- recognized engineers, meteorologists, practitioners, risk communicators, scientists, and trade professionals to share best practices and create innovative solutions.
Masonry fireplaces and chimneys in earthquake-prone regions are particularly vulnerable to earthquake damage. Build or retrofit your home with a fireplace and chimney appropriate for an earthquake-prone area.
FEMA 232, Homebuilders’ Guide to Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction
FEMA. Repair of Earthquake-Damaged Masonry Fireplace Chimneys: South Napa Earthquake Recovery Advisory.
Why does it matter?
Deadly and destructive fires frequently follow earthquakes. In 1906, the infamous 7.8 magnitude San Francisco earthquake and ensuing fire killed 3,000 and razed large city sections, making it the most deadly in U.S. history. In modern times, severed gas lines are often the source of ignition, so it is essential to plan for and mitigate against the threat of fire.
One of the most effective ways to reduce fire risk after an earthquake is to locate your gas supply and understand how to interrupt the flow.
What do I need to know?
Where do I start?
Why do they matter?
Strong foundations keep your house stable during earthquakes by resisting seismic forces that pass underneath it. A house with strong wall-to-foundation anchorage will help prevent your home from sliding or moving during an earthquake.
Your strong home foundation is one of the essential parts of your resilient home.
What do I need to know?
Where do I start?
More Resources:
FLASH. Resilient Design Guide: Concrete Construction Edition
Why do they matter?
Strong foundations help stabilize your house during earthquakes, floods, high winds, hurricanes, and tornadoes. They resist hydrostatic forces of water, carry wind forces down to the ground, and resist seismic forces as they pass underneath your home. A house with strong wall-to-foundation anchorage and connections will help prevent your home from collapsing, moving, sinking, sliding, tipping, or overturning during disasters.
A strong home foundation is one of the essential parts of your resilient home.
What do I need to know?
House design, budget, climate, location, soil conditions, and moisture are the main factors used when selecting a foundation type for your home. Three main types of foundations are commonly used for residential and single-family homes.
A house with a stem wall foundation has a wood-framed first floor attached to a raised concrete perimeter made from reinforced masonry (CMU or cinder blocks.) A pier-and-beam foundation is a system of vertical pillars or piers extended into the ground on footers. The piers support the joist system that holds up your home’s floor.
Retrofitting wood and raised foundations to strengthen their performance in disasters is cost-effective and relatively simple. Retrofitting poured concrete foundations may be more costly as it could require some drywall removal to create access.
Where do I start?
More Resources:
FLASH. Resilient Design Guide: High Wind Wood Frame Construction Edition
FLASH. Resilient Design Guide: Concrete Construction Edition
Why do they matter?
Cripple (or crawl space) walls are relatively short frame walls that extend from the top of your home’s foundation to the bottom of the first floor. These walls typically enclose a crawl space or are part of a stepped foundation when a home is on a slope or uneven ground. During an earthquake, these walls become stressed and can fail, leading to severe building damage.
What do I need to know?
Where do I start?
FEMA. Brace Cripple Walls.
FEMA DR-4193-RA2. Earthquake Strengthening of Cripple Walls in Wood-Frame Dwellings.
Why does it matter?
It is essential to strengthen soft and weak-story homes with first-floor open areas or parking underneath, such as garage apartments. This type of condition is especially vulnerable to collapse in earthquakes because the strength of the bottom story is substantially less than the stories above it.
What do I need to know?
Where do I start?
Where to explore and more:
FEMA 232, Homebuilders’ Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction
If your home is damaged or destroyed in a storm or natural disaster, you can take steps to protect your family’s safety, comfort, and financial stability during recovery.
Seek guidance from reliable sources, including emergency management officials, local government leaders, insurance company representatives, and nonprofit organizations that specialize in disaster response and recovery. Determine if your disaster-affected community has formed a long-term recovery task force and follow task force news to learn about relevant resources, services, and deadlines.
You may never forget your disaster experience, but you can recover and bounce back with the physical, emotional, and financial support available after the worst happens.
Contact your insurance provider as soon as possible to begin the claims process. Be aware that certain disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, may not be covered by standard homeowners policies.
Take reasonable steps to protect your property from further damage, like placing blue tarps over roof damage or broken windows. Save your receipts for any materials you use, and submit them to your insurance company for reimbursement.
Document your loss, and preserve damaged items until your adjuster has visited your home or your company advises that you may dispose of the items. Take photos and use videos to prepare a home inventory to document your claim. Assemble copies of receipts from damaged items.
You may have coverage for lodging and other living expenses while you are displaced from your damaged home, so be sure to include those receipts in your claim documentation.
For more information about insurance considerations during a disaster, check out our guide to homeowners insurance to find out more about filing a claim.
Throughout recovery, stay up-to-date and monitor local radio, television, and other information sources about where to get emergency housing, food, first aid, clothing, and financial assistance. Check out options for how to stay informed.
Post-disaster economic assistance programs may be available for individuals under certain circumstances. Direct assistance of food, shelter, supplies, and cleanup may come from any number of organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and others. The federal government may help individuals and families with temporary housing, counseling, loans and grants, and other assistance. There are also programs to help small businesses and farmers.
FEMA provides housing assistance for qualifying disaster victims. Homeowners within a designated federal disaster area can call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) to register.
Applicants should be prepared to describe losses and provide their Social Security Number, financial information, and the location of the damaged property.
Disasters can have an emotional toll, and adults may need crisis counseling or stress management assistance. Children, older adults, people with disabilities, and people who speak English as a second language may be especially at risk for emotional distress post-disaster.
Seek crisis counseling if you or a family member is experiencing disaster-related stress. Local faith-based organizations, voluntary agencies, or professional counselors can provide counsel and advice. FEMA, state, and local government agencies may also provide crisis counseling assistance.
Make sure you understand the personal effects of a disaster, recognize signs of disaster-related stress, and are familiar with how to manage that stress.
If in doubt, do not give out your personal information. Report to local authorities anyone claiming to be a government worker. Safeguard against disaster-related fraud by taking these precautions:
When returning home after a natural disaster, there are ways to make sure you and your family are safe. There may be immediate dangers like contaminated water and wild animals or less obvious threats like structural damage to your home.
Be careful when entering your home. Wear leather gloves and solid, thick-soled shoes with steel toes. Look out for loose boards and slippery floors.
Any kind of cleanup work can be hazardous, but cleaning up after a hurricane, tornado, flood, wildfire, or other natural disaster requires special care and attention. If your home is damaged and your yard is littered with debris after a disaster, there are ways to ensure that cleanup is safe and environmentally friendly.
Check with your local government for cleanup procedures before disposing of debris.
You can expedite cleanup by separating debris:
Put debris at your curbside, away from fire hydrants, trees, power lines, mailboxes, valves, or other items that could be damaged or make collection difficult.
Keep building debris and building contents separate from vegetative material and regular garbage. Check for special requirements like designated disposal sites other than curbside.
Start cleanup once you know you can safely enter your home, and follow this checklist to ensure your safety.
Attempting to dry out the contents of your home can take several weeks, and if the humidity remains high, microorganisms may continue to grow. If the house and its contents are not properly dried out and you notice musty odors, consider throwing out the wet materials.
Damage to your home can have a significant impact on you, your family, and your friends. It’s best to have a plan for how to re-enter your home safely before a hurricane, tornado, flood, or other storm strikes.
The greatest threat to personal safety exists during a storm and in the immediate aftermath. Use this checklist for what to do after the storm to minimize potential harm.
If your home is damaged by a covered peril, you will need to notify your insurance company as soon as possible. All companies have toll-free telephone numbers for claims reporting, and most have company websites and app with online claims reporting options.
An insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurance company, so there are rules and procedures that you and your insurer must follow. The best way to understand your role is to read your insurance policy.
Having the right amount and type of insurance for your car, home, boat, and other high-value possessions will ensure that you will have the money you need to recover after disaster strikes.
Start with A Homeowners Guide to Natural Disasters for an introduction to basic mitigation and policy benefits, limitations, and opportunities to save with credits and discounts.
Then schedule a checkup with your insurance company or agent to ask critical questions like:
Different types of insurance policies are available to cover various weather or geophysical perils, such as earthquakes. The most appropriate insurance product for your needs depends primarily on your type of dwelling.
Homeowners: If you own a home, there are two available policy forms: homeowners and dwelling forms. The main difference between these two types of forms is that a homeowners form combines property coverage with liability coverage, while the dwelling form only covers property losses. Additionally, a dwelling form is more commonly used for a dwelling that an insured person owns but does not live in or only lives in for part of the year. Both types of policy forms have various peril coverage options available for the dwelling and its contents.
Manufactured homeowners: There are policy forms specifically designed to insure manufactured homes. This type of policy covers both the dwelling and its contents and provides liability protection.
Condo owners: There are policy forms specifically designed to cover condominiums. This type of policy typically covers contents, such as your personal property and liability. A small amount of dwelling coverage is provided to cover the portions of the condominium that you are responsible for, as defined by the governing rules of the condominium association; this may include condominium common areas. You can purchase additional dwelling coverage if the protection included in the package is insufficient.
Renters: There are renter’s insurance policy forms specifically designed for you if you are renting and do not own your residence. These forms provide coverage for your contents and liability.
Farm homeowners: Farm owner’s policy forms are specifically designed to cover farms or ranches which may not qualify for standard homeowners insurance. This policy may be the most appropriate form to cover property losses to your home and other structures, such as barns and silos, from the damage of tornadoes, hail, and other perils. Farm owner’s policies also cover personal and commercial exposure of farms, along with liability coverage.
Two exceptions worth noting
Earthquake and flood policies typically need to be purchased separately or as additional endorsements to your standard policy, regardless of your dwelling type. The limits of these policies can match the homeowner’s or renter’s policy, or they can be set as separate limits.
Generally, insurance may be purchased from property casualty insurance companies through the voluntary market, meaning that the insurance companies voluntarily provide coverage to customers who meet the underwriting requirements. Availability and types of coverage may vary across states and companies, so consumers should research property coverage for specific perils in their area.
There are four main distribution systems employed by property casualty insurance companies in the U.S.:
Involuntary market mechanisms (sometimes referred to as shared markets) provide coverage for entities that do not qualify for coverage in the voluntary market. There are many reasons why coverage may not be available through the voluntary market in a particular place. For example, living in a high-risk area, such as a designated wildfire zone, near a coastline, or in an area affected by a recent catastrophic event may lead to reduced availability of coverage.
The following kinds of property insurance market mechanisms exist in certain areas:
Market conditions in some states have made it difficult for voluntary insurers to provide affordable coverage. Under those circumstances, coverage may be available through a FAIR plan. If you find that you are unable to obtain insurance through the voluntary market, your insurance agent may help you find coverage through the involuntary market, or you may be able to contact the plans directly. Because these entities vary greatly by locality, your state insurance department is likely the best source of information on how to obtain coverage through the involuntary market in your state.
Homeowners insurance protects your home and everything in it from accidental and unexpected incidents. If something catastrophic occurs, you will need to provide a list of everything that was in the house, and in some cases, even photographic evidence of valuable possessions.
Here’s how to create a home inventory that will make future insurance claims run smoothly:
For more expensive items, store receipts electronically in a folder backed up to the cloud, on a flash drive, or in a written physical record along with other essential documents in a sealed waterproof bag.
If you are keeping a physical record, keep a copy in your “go bag” in case you have to evacuate.
Take advantage of all product warranties by registering your new appliances and products. That way you can get helpful information about the product for an insurance claim.
Keep the name, telephone number, email, and web address of your insurance agent and/or company in a safe place, including on your computer or on your phone.
Contact your home insurance company or agent and request a policy review. Use the insurance checkup checklist to make sure you have the right financial resources to rebuild, recover, and bounce back from any disaster.
Update your home inventory regularly and read your insurance policy carefully to understand what is and isn’t covered (deductibles, general and specific limits, flood coverage, etc.).
If you must evacuate the area, notify your insurance company and verify what your insurance policy will cover for temporary lodging.
For more information about insurance, check out A Homeowner’s Insurance Guide to Natural Disasters for an introduction to mitigation and policy benefits, limitations, and ways to save with credits and discounts.
FLASH and The Actuarial Foundation. If Disaster Strikes, Will You Be Covered? A Homeowner’s Insurance Guide to Natural Disasters.