harbor, an app that makes emergency readiness easy, now available in the Apple App Store

New app puts the tools to prepare for the unexpected in the palm of your hand

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Oct 08, 2020, 15:25 ET

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- harbor, the company that simplifies home safety and emergency readiness has released its highly anticipated app that personalizes and automates the readiness process, now available on iOS. harbor views "household wellness" as a new, major category, giving users peace-of-mind in the face of rapid climate change as well as everyday household disruptions like fires and power outages. After just a few minutes on the app, users will be more prepared for the unexpected than 60% of Americans.

harbor believes that being prepared doesn't need to be extreme, nor is it just a pre-packed go bag. Instead, readiness is integral to daily life – as easy to build into our habits as a workout class or meditation routine. The harbor app, built by former Headspace and GoodRX alums, helps families learn and complete simple readiness tasks, layering on more advanced activities as steps are completed. When an emergency strikes, harbor is a personal guide, giving families tailored, on-demand information about what to do and where to turn when it matters most.

"The unexpected is going to happen, but we can't expect people to upend their lives trying to prepare for it. The truth is you're much more likely to lose your home because of an electrical fire than a hurricane or some other large-scale disaster, yet so many families don't think to check the batteries in their smoke alarms or keep a fire extinguisher on-hand," said Dan Kessler, harbor CEO and former Headspace executive. "We built harbor to help people take small and easy — but important — steps toward home safety and preparedness every single day and give families a plan for everything from a broken fridge to an earthquake."

harbor assesses your family's risks and builds you a personalized readiness plan. Tailored risk assessments combine family and household details with data from NOAA, FEMA, and USGS, as well as land maps and building codes, delivering actionable plans. The app also assigns your home a "Readiness Score" allowing users to track progress as they work towards higher levels of readiness for all of life's emergencies. Specific features include:

Risk assessments based on your zip code and family details, backed by data.
Custom planning tools that tailor recommendations to your household, region and specific needs.
Encrypted storage for vital documents with access offline, ensuring you and your family always have access to information in critical moments.
A personalized, offline guide leading you step-by-step through what to do when a disaster strikes.
Multiple family accounts with shared information, so that children, parents, or caregivers are able to stay safe and connected.
Readiness checklists that prepare your house for all kinds of specific scenarios, from earthquakes to wildfires.
Access to an ecommerce shop featuring the best home safety and readiness products. harbor's exclusive partners offer hundreds of items to help you quickly get your home ready.

harbor launches during an unprecedented cycle of natural disasters, exacerbated by a global pandemic. NOAA has revised its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season, now predicting 19 to 25 named storms this year -- the highest forecast in NOAA history. Meanwhile, more than 14 million U.S. properties are at risk of substantial flooding—and many homeowners don't even realize it.

"For many Americans, their own homes can be a dangerous place — especially during an emergency — but it doesn't have to be," said Juliette Kayyem, member of harbor's advisory council and former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security. "harbor breaks down home safety in an accessible, human way that will help Americans build resilience in a time when we are seeing families across the country facing unprecedented challenges to their health and security."

harbor is looking to build a network of like-minded partners working towards a safer world, and launches with a key partnership with Team Rubicon, an organization that serves communities by mobilizing veterans to continue their service by helping people prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. Team Rubicon volunteers will be leveraging the harbor app in the field to further their mission: To make the largest impact possible in helping underserved or economically-challenged communities recover from disasters.

"Preparedness goes beyond creating a disaster kit and packing a Go Bag, it's about remaining mindful of the hazards we can be exposed to each day, while being able to safely use the resources that are available to us and our neighbors," said Corey Eide, Senior Director, Capabilities Development at Team Rubicon. "At Team Rubicon, we build resilience in the communities we serve and this partnership with harbor allows us to provide additional resources for our Greyshirts, the communities they live in and aid, as well as those we've yet to meet."

iPhone users can download harbor for free now here.

About harbor
harbor is a platform for helping people, families and communities form everyday habits to be more ready and resilient in the face of disruptions. Learn more at helloharbor.com.

About Team Rubicon
TEAM RUBICON serves communities by mobilizing veterans to continue their service by leveraging their skills and experience to help people prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. Founded following the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the organization has grown to over 130,000 volunteers across the United States and has launched over 700 operations both domestically and internationally. Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, Team Rubicon has not only pivoted to be able to continue to deliver disaster response and rebuild services in core mission areas, but has also expanded their scope of missions to meet community needs brought about by COVID. Visit www.teamrubiconusa.org for more information.

SOURCE harbor