????凱瑟琳?霍珀是我最近遇到的非常迷人的一位創業者。她的初創企業黑色雨傘（Black Umbrella）主要業務是幫助人們針對洪水、颶風、核大戰和我們可能擔憂的其他災難，做好充分準備。霍珀對災難有切身體會：她的未婚夫安德魯?麥道夫的父親伯納德?麥道夫，是美國最臭名昭著的“龐氏騙局”的始作俑者。伯納德?麥道夫（也是安德魯?麥道夫的老板）的騙局被揭穿后，安德魯?麥道夫的職業生涯從此一蹶不振。

????去年三月，我曾在《財富》雜志上報道過霍珀。上周，颶風“桑迪”席卷美國東海岸，我通過電子郵件聯系霍珀，問她從此次風暴中是否學到了什么。她認為，“桑迪”讓自己確信，我們正面臨一種新的常態，最好做好準備。

????為下一場風暴做好準備：黑色雨傘創始人兼總裁凱瑟琳?霍珀給您的建議

????周一，東海岸大部分居民的生活總算是恢復了正常。孩子們重新回到了學校。上班族開始乘坐公共交通去上班。經受住超級風暴“桑迪”的襲擊，許多房屋業主們終于松了一口氣。但“常態感”作為此次風暴的一個遺留影響會讓民眾產生大量的疑問，懷疑這種級別的突發情況是不是已經屬于一種“新的常態”。

????從科學的角度來看，我認為這確實會成為一種常態。據聯合國（the United Nations）統計，1975至2008年期間爆發的10次最致命的自然災害中，有一半發生在2002年以后。大型風暴的數量在不斷增加。因此，為潛在的大災難做好準備，正是這種“新常態”的一部分。

????既然如此，最重要的問題是：如何才能做好最充分的準備？

????對于許多美國人來說，答案就是提前采購。上周一晚上，我在市區的公寓斷電，當時我很高興自己已經花154美元從亞馬遜（Amazon.com）買了一臺Duracell Powerpack 600電源組。平時，我把這個32磅的應急電源放在車里，但它在家里的作用同樣明顯，可以給手機、iPad和電腦充電。

????我買的最便宜、卻最有用的一件工具是花30美元購買的浴缸應急儲水器WaterBob，它可存儲100加侖水。這款產品甚至配有一個水泵，可以輕松從中抽水用于飲用、洗澡和洗漱。

????此外，SureFire E2D戰術防身手電可以讓我不用在黑燈瞎火中爬22層樓梯（如果遇到不法之徒，還可以用來防身）。

????我們該如何針對不確定的災難做好充分的準備？答案不止購買工具這么簡單。作為一名應急準備專業人員，我經常提到策略的重要性。這次風暴中，我使用了一些策略（或者有些情況沒有使用，結果給我帶來了損害），讓我認識到那些對我們的生存和舒適性最有用的措施。

????我做過的最明智的事情是：盡量提前考慮。周一早上，我把車開出車庫，加滿油，然后把它停在靠近我家的大街上。我在家里存滿了不容易腐壞的食物。我扔掉了所有垃圾。我還在iPad里面下載了許多最新上映的兒童電影。

????Catherine Hooper is one of the more intriguing entrepreneurs I've met recently. Her startup, Black Umbrella, provides services to help people prepare for floods, hurricanes, nuclear war and pretty much any other disaster we might fear. Hooper knows disasters: She is the fiance of Andrew Madoff, Bernie Madoff's son whose career collapsed when his dad (who was his employer) was discovered to be the world's greatest Ponzi schemer. I profiled Hooper in Fortune last March. Last week, when Sandy blew up the East Coast, I emailed her and asked if she learned anything from the storm. She did. Sandy convinced Hooper that we're confronting a new normal and we had better be prepare for it.

????Prepping for the next storm: An entrepreneur's advice by Catherine Hooper, founder and President, Black Umbrella

????For most East Coast residents, life officially returned to normal on Monday. Children went back to school. Commuters returned to work, using mass transit. Many homeowners breathed sighs of relief at having weathered Superstorm Sandy. But as a sense of normalcy returns, questions abound about whether emergencies of this magnitude are part of "the new normal."

????Based on science, I believe that they are. According to the United Nations, half of the 10 deadliest disasters between 1975 and 2008 occurred after 2002. Big storms are on the rise. And preparing for potential catastrophes is part the new normal.

????That said, the most important question is: What's the best way to prepare?

????For a lot of Americans, the answer is to buy stuff. When we lost power in my downtown apartment last Monday night, I was very happy to have bought a Duracell Powerpack 600 for $154 on Amazon.com (AMZN). Normally, I keep this 32-pound emergency power source in the car, but it works just as well at home to keep mobile phones, iPads, and computers charged.

????On the cheaper end, my most useful purchase turned out to be the WaterBob, a $30 bathtub liner that safely stores 100 gallons of water. It even has a pump to make getting the water out for drinking, bathing, and sanitation very simple.

????Meanwhile, my SureFire E2D executive defender flashlight lit my way up 22 flights of stairs (and would have come in handy if I had run into unwanted company).

????But the answer to how we can best prepare for uncertainty is about more than the tools. As an emergency preparedness professional, I frequently talk about the importance of tactics. As I used them during the storm (or didn't, to my detriment), I became aware of what steps are most useful to our survival and comfort.

????The smartest thing I managed to do: Think ahead as much as possible. On Monday morning, I got the car out of my garage, filled it with gas, and parked it on the street near my building. I stocked the house with non-perishable food. I took out all of the garbage. And I downloaded several new kids' movies to my iPad.