With all the earthquakes and whatnot happening in the world lately, emergency preparedness has really been on our minds. That isn't to say that we haven't had some sort of emergency prep in place for the last several years, just that we are making a real effort to perfect our system and make sure we are really prepared. (We are also finding out that there is always more you can do to be prepared.
We live in a Tsunami inundation zone, which doesn't mean our house is in danger of being swept away by the initial wave, but because we live between the ocean and a river, we are quite likely to be flooded. The nearest safe zone for us is a bit over a mile away, walking towards the ocean to higher ground. Since we have spent the last couple of weeks getting our 72 hour kits in order, I thought I would share a few tips here. They aren't in any particular order, and they certainly aren't meant to cover every aspect of preparedness, but it's a start.
1)
Start a 72 hour kit. An unfinished kit is still better than no kit at all. It doesn't have to be super fancy or expensive. Just start by putting together some things you might already have on hand. Find a backpack, a bag or a bucket and start collecting things you might need. Some good resources for ideas for 72 hour kits can be found
here or
here.
2)
Make a kit for each individual in your family. Hopefully in an emergency you will be able to stay together, but what if you are
separated somehow? We have a basic kit in a backpack for each of our kids. The kits include a change of clothes (sealed in a plastic bag to keep them dry), food items (in this case they each have a can of soup, a can of ravioli, oatmeal packets, snacks such as granola bars and fruit snacks, and some
ramen. They don't have three complete days of food, because it would be too heavy for them to carry, but at least, they have a couple of days worth of food), water bottles (again, they can't carry three days worth alone, but at least they have a start), some hot cocoa packets, a toothbrush, a small baggie with a few things to entertain them (a pad of paper and a pen, a
glow stick, a matchbox car), a garbage bag, diapers and wipes for those that still need them). The cans of soup and ravioli are the pop top kind, so that the kids can open them alone if they need to. I have heard that these kinds of cans can sometimes burst (it was fruit that I heard that about). We packed the cans in carefully so that they remain upright and the backpacks are on a shelf where they won't get jostled or stepped on, so I think they will be okay. Just in case, the clothing and other items are all in plastic baggies so they won't be ruined if something leaks. We also bought rain ponchos that can snap together to make a basic tent shelter and will be adding one of these to each person's pack.
3)
Have a way to carry heavier items. We have a small two wheeled granny cart that we keep next to our shelf of emergency supplies. It can be collapsed to take up less space. We keep other emergency items on the shelf where we can put them into the cart when we need to. In this case, the cart is for carrying a case of chili, beef pepperoni sticks, extra bottles of water, a small
cook stove and our bucket of other supplies. In our bucket we have twine, rope, a roll of toilet paper, some extra cans of food such as tuna, a can opener, a mess kit, water purification tablets, candles, waterproof matches, emergency blankets, a folding stove and fuel for it, hand warmers, an emergency radio that can be charged by hand crank, a lantern and a tent that we can use as shelter for our family.
4)
Don't just be prepared at home. Emergencies can happen anywhere. The next thing on our list is to get a basic kit together for each of our cars. It certainly won't have as much in it as our home kits do, but it will have some basics such as a case of water (we always keep one in the car) and a tote with some food, a first aid kit and other useful things inside. This way, if we are away from home we still have something to fall back on. Having a kit in a car is a smart thing to do anyway. What if your car breaks down somewhere, or you get stranded in the snow. Having some food, water and supplies can save your life. It's also a good idea to have a basic kit to keep at your workplace if you have a space of your own there. If a Tsunami were to happen here, there is a good chance that D would be at work, and while it is only two miles from our home, he might not be able to get to us if the roads are flooded. I am going to add a basic kit for him to keep at his office as well.
5)
Keep your home kits in a safe place and together. We bought a shelf that we keep our emergency supplies on. It is near our back door and everything is together for easy access. There were a couple of years where we had most of the supplies we needed, but they weren't all together. In an emergency you might not have time to run around the house looking for everything you need. We know that we can grab our backpacks, and our cart in moments and head out the door if we have to evacuate.
6)
Practice makes perfect, and it also takes away some of the fear. Make sure family members are familiar with their 72 hour kits and know what to do if an emergency comes. Family drills where everyone practices getting their packs on and meeting outside the house are important. Becoming familiar with what to do will keep children and adults calmer when the time comes because it won't seem so scary when they have been practicing regularly. Have a family drill quarterly where everyone practices what they should do. Make sure older family members help the younger ones get their items so that it isn't a madhouse of people all trying to get their stuff at once. As I mentioned, we live just over a mile from where we would evacuate to if there were a Tsunami here. We plan to take our backpacks and walk to the evacuation area so that our kids will be familiar with how to get there, and they will also know how it feels to have to carry their packs that far.
7)
Rotate, update, rotate. We update our 72 hour kits every six months. For us, we find it convenient to do this around our church's General Conference which happens the first weekend of April and October. Check expiration dates and make sure clothing still fits. Change out whatever needs to be switched, and make sure that food items will last at least until the next time you update, and preferably longer. You want to have time to use up canned food that you switch out of your kits, so that there is no waste. Snacks like granola bars are rarely good for a whole year, so we switch them out every six months, and make sure that we check the expiration on the new packages when we buy them.
8)
Make sure you think about your family's individual needs. Every family is different. Does anyone take special medication? Make sure you have what you need on hand. Is there something particular that would bring someone comfort? A family picture, a special toy or book, a blanket? Take into consideration what would help your family be calmer. A little comfort or something familiar can go a long way.
9)
Keep important documents where you can get them easily. Right now we keep our documents in a fireproof box. Some things, like the kids' birth certificates, we have two copies of. I have plans to get a waterproof case to keep the second copies in, and to put them with our 72 kits. We can also keep immunization records and other important documents safe and ready to go with us if need be. It's also a good idea to keep current family pictures with your kit so that if you do get
separated you can show the picture to others to help you find missing family members.
10)
Make a list, and post it. Keep an inventory list of the things you have in your kit. This way you can easily look at it and see what you might need to add or update. Include expiration dates on your list. For instance, I have put individual packets of instant oatmeal in our kits. The packets themselves don't show an expiration date, but there was one on the box they came in. Make sure to note on your inventory list when things expire. This way, when it is time to update, you can just get out those things you need to switch and you don't have to look at every can and check it's expiration. This will also enable you to shop ahead and get the things you need to switch out ahead of time. This is one of the things I still need to do. I am planning to laminate my list so that it will be waterproof, and then we will keep it on the shelf with our other items. I can cross off
expiration dates with a sharpie and write new ones in as we switch things out. One laminated list should last us a few years.
Again, these are just a few ideas we have had. There are many resources out there, and you can also purchase basic 72 hour kits if you don't want to put together your own. The important things is, to start preparing before an emergency happens so that you can be more secure and confident when and if something does happen. Go ahead...I DARE YOU!
Sunday afternoon we decided to do a practice Tsunami drill. Here we are heading out through the back yard with our 72 hour kit packs.
Just around the corner and everyone is still fresh faced and happy.
We made it the 1.1 miles to our destination! We sat down for some water and a granola bar before heading home.
Some of the boys are not as happy on the way home. They are tired! Note that #5 has turned his pack to the front. The boys helped pull the granny cart too (we didn't load everything on it, and have decided that the stuff in the bucket will fit in our pack to make more room in the granny cart for other needs). We are also thinking that maybe our double stroller that is also a bike trailer might be bette than the granny cart. If we have time in an emergency we will use it instead, but will keep the cart handy for now because it is quicker and will fit with the rest of our emergency supplies.