Getting Started Evacuation Help

EvacuationHelp.com is an Internet Portal to build Pre-Disaster Relationships^SM before a disaster occurs!
Please, remember that it will take some time to establish a "relationship" with an EvacPartner^SM as with any other personal interactions in life. Also; you might want to keep the following things in mind:

Plan ahead like you would plan ahead a vacation, wedding, or building a house. Do NOT expect to find an EvacPartner^SM over night or a few days before a disaster strikes!
It is crucial to have more than one or two EvacPartners^SM established in different locations as you never know under what circumstances, when, and where a disaster will strike. You also will not know ahead of time if your EvacPartner^SM is available at the time of need!
Remember that this is the Internet after all and use common sense! Do not use your real name as an EvacuationHelp.com user name and never give out personal information until you know who you are talking to.
Never give out your Social Security Number and be assured that the operators and administrators of EvacuationHelp.com will NEVER ask you for it or other personal information that could be used for fraud!
Make sure to verify and check out the person(s) you’re dealing with once you found an EvacPartner^SM. Feel free to use Intelius (one of our advertisers) for Instant Background Checks.
Everyone is encouraged to contact people via regular email and/or phone calls after connecting on EvacuationHelp.com - after all - you may be living with someone for days or even weeks! REMEMBER that EvacuationHelp.com will NOT furnish anyone with direct contact information, doing that is entirely your own decision and responsibility!

WHAT’S INSIDE THE MEMBER SECTION?

Once you have established your evacuation destination / cities you can search for matching EvacPartners^SM based on your criteria, establish initial contact, and build your Pre-Disaster Relationships with your EvacPartners^SM.
EvacuationHelp.com also helps you to form a car pool, post to and search the lost & found section, find “house swappers” for vacations, store your important papers securely on our web server, volunteer and help residents in your community, incident tracking for your friends and family via the build-in Emergency E-mail Notification System^SM, as well as access to Tips & Tricks; a knowledge base created by our visitors.

GETTING STARTED - STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:

(A) Setup a free Account in 10 minutes or less:

Click on the "Create FREE Account Here ” button under our logo.
Select a username that is not your real name (i.e. a common first name followed by a number, a nick name such as “CitySlicker123” or “DogLover15”
Fill out the self explanatory remaining fields (please note that first & last name, phone, cell phone, date of birth, and e-mail address will not be displayed in your profile and are strictly for Evacuation Help’s internal records.)
Define yourself: Every member is automatically considered a possible evacuee but please check the most appropriate definition for yourself so other members can find you while searching. You can change and turn off/on any of these settings in your Control Panel (CP) at any time.
Enter the “visual security code” from the graphic in the text box below and click on create account.
Please note your account number; it will be displayed in your CP under “MY Account”.
Check your e-mail account for the e-mail address you entered in the signup form. You should have received a confirmation request message that was sent from YOUR e-mail address with the subject “Your confirmation for Evacuation Help”. This message contains a verification link that you either can click on or you can copy and paste into the address bar of your web browser to confirm your e-mail address. NOTE: It might take several hours to receive the confirmation message/link if you are using a free web based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail etc. Also make sure to check your junk mail folders and SPAM filters if you do not receive your confirmation e-mail within a few hours (otherwise the confirmation e-mail is delivered instantly). You have 72 hours to confirm your e-mail address or your account will be automatically deleted.
Once you see the confirmed message on our web site, you can now login with your EvacUserName and password in the top menu bar (the login process is encrypted for added security).
You will be prompted to give some general information about yourself in the first screen. All fields, except of the Personal Introduction will be used by other users to search for you, an EvacPartner^SM. Also complete the Personal Introduction which will show in your profile to tell others in detail about yourself, what you are looking for and what you have to offer in exchange.
Based on what you selected/defined yourself as in 4 above you will see one or two additional short screens to complete basic information that is needed for member’s searches.
YOU ARE DONE with all the basic information and logged into your Control Panel (CP).
You can always click on the online help link in the top right corner of each screen to get help for that particular screen/mode/function.

(B) How to work/run the system once in the control panel (CP):

First you need to define your Evacuation Destination by clicking on the “City Finder” link in the “My EvacPartners^SM Panel” located in your top left corner of your Control Panel. Then select the state you like to go to or leave it on the default “Use My Location” to enter a mileage range not bounded by state borders. If you like; choose the general direction you that you wish to evacuate/travel to, the approximate size of the city in the Population drop down box or elect to enter your own range (based on the Census Bureau data). Your Distance choices function in the same manner.
Once you have a list of cities — click on the city name to pop up a map in a new window, or click on the “add” link to save that city as one of your Evacuation or Travel destinations. Add as many cities as you like (located anywhere in the country). Now you are ready to search for your EvacPartners^SM!
Click on the “EvacPartner^SM Search” in your top menu and select what describes your potential partner best, (this might narrow you’re your search results drastically based on your selections).
Click on the “view profile” link to see the details of that EvacUser^SM, Once again — clicking on the city name will pop up a map in a new browser window.
From the detailed profile page you will find several options in the top menu:
• “Add to Favorites” will save that EvacUser in your EvacFavorites list, which is the basis of creating an EvacPartner^SM relationship. You can later on request from your Favorites (accessible from your Control Panel) to become an EvacPartner^SM with that member, who in turn has the choice to accept or decline your request.
• “Send A Message” will send an internal e-mail to that EvacUser^SM.
• “Add to Favorites and Message Now” will give you a two for one.
• “Continue Search” will bring you back to your previous search results.
• Picture/Image Section: Each EvacUser can upload up to five images to their profile but the default is not to show those pictures to other members. Other EvacUsers can see that you have images uploaded and can request permission from you to see those picture by clicking on the link in the picture place holder. You have total control over who can see your picture and who doesn’t.

Further help and instructions are available through the online help feature that can be found on almost every screen/page in the top right corner. Please also see our FAQs for more information.