Just in Case (35 page)
Change of clothing
* Bulky items such as a sleeping bag or extra clothing can be stored in a vacuum-sealed bag. With the air removed, they take up much less space.
Children may have special needs, such as disposable diapers and wet wipes, formula or sterile boxed milk, extra clothing, and small toys or books.
Fill any odd spaces in the pack with food that can be eaten from the package, such as power bars, nuts, jerky, trail mix, dried fruit, and MREs (meals ready to eat). Worry less about nutrition and more about calories and ease of preparation for this kit. The point of this kit is to meet your very basic needs for the short term.
I would suggest adding to each pack an index card with the owner’s name, address, emergency contact information, and pertinent medical information, like blood type and important health history.
Obviously, this is a very basic kit. It is intended to meet your needs if you are evacuated. I assume you will be wearing the warmest outdoor clothing you will need for your climate, a hat, good gloves, and sturdy shoes or boots. I cannot stress enough the importance of good footwear. Nothing is as demoralizing as cold, wet, blistered feet.
Consider basic packs for younger family members and larger packs for adults, including other items for comfort such as a portable camp stove, kettle, collapsible shovel, rope, ground cloth, and small tent.
Keep your bags in a designated place, close to an exit or in the trunk of your car. If they are kept in the family vehicle, they will do double duty as part of your car emergency kit. Be sure to rotate the consumables every few months. Make sure all of the children know that if you say, “Time to leave!” this means they should grab their bag and outdoor gear and head to your designated meeting spot. This is especially critical if you live in an area prone to floods or wildfires or near a chemical or nuclear facility. A few minutes can mean the difference between life and death.
EVACUATION BAG
FIVE-STEP EVACUATION
1. Turn off your gas, water, and electrical service, if the crisis calls for it.
2. Unplug appliances, including computers.
3. Shut windows and interior doors.
4. Grab evacuation packs for each person and proceed to the car. Do not forget to either take pets or leave sufficient food and water for them. Make sure you have your cell phone, money in coins and small-denomination bills, and any necessary medications.
5. Lock all doors.
A FEW DAYS AND A FEW (HUNDRED) DOLLARS …
Not everyone who reads this book will follow through with a preparedness plan. Some could read this book and think that none of the talked-about scenarios pose an immediate threat to their family. Some might decide that preparedness does not work with their current lifestyle. Others may plan to prepare but find excuses to put off most purchases until another time.
Then something may change. Maybe the “storm of the century” is forecast. Perhaps an influenza epidemic strikes in Asia and you realize that its emergence in the United States is only a matter of time. Perhaps a terrorist strike causes a panic that threatens to disrupt local services. Whatever the reason, you may wake up one morning and find that you have put off preparing for too long.
So what could you do with only a few days and a few hundred dollars at your disposal? What steps should you take to get the most bang for your preparedness buck? The worst thing you could do would be to rush out without a plan. You would likely waste both time and money and forget some vital supplies that could mean the difference between relative comfort and real deprivation.
Your first step should be to sit down with pencil and paper to map out a shopping route and supply list. If possible, divide and conquer, sending adults out to separate locations in separate vehicles to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest amount of time.
• Fill up all of your vehicles’ gas tanks. In a longterm crisis, one of the first things to run short will be gasoline. In that case, lines may be long, prices high, and rationing in place. You will be ahead of the game if you keep your tank always at least half full.
• Obtain refills of all prescription medications. If your insurance company will not pay for refills, get an extra month’s worth anyway, no matter the cost. You can’t afford to play with a chronic health condition in a crisis. Pick up necessary over-the-counter medications as well.
• Check your water supplies. You need about one gallon of water per person per day. You can store water in clean soda bottles. Milk jugs will work for short-term storage if they are very clean. Fill up any canning jars, coolers, large kettles, and other containers you can find. A few drops of unscented bleach will protect water from contaminants. If supplies are short, it may be easier and cheaper to buy containers and fill them at home than it is to purchase bottled water.
• Look over your nonperishable food. You will need canned soups and stews, fruits and vegetables, “just add water” mixes, powdered milk, and some fun foods like popcorn and pudding. If you are worried about how you will cook food, think about things that can be eaten cold from a box or a can. Dried fruits and nuts, boxed cereals, powdered milk, and canned meats like tuna, chicken, and ham will all keep well and do not require cooking.
• Update your bathroom inventory. Pay attention to first-aid supplies, toilet paper, sanitary supplies, soap, and toothpaste.
• If you have a young one at home, restock diapers and formula. Make sure you have a warm fleece or wool suit to put your little one in if you live in a cold climate.
• If you have hurricane lamps, clean the globes and pick up extra fuel and wicks. If you don’t have hand cranked flashlights and lanterns, see if you can get them. Otherwise get extra candles and holders. The thicker emergency candles are better than tapers.
• If you have a propane camp stove, get it out and set up an emergency kitchen in a well-ventilated area such as a garage or covered porch. Make sure to get a few extra propane cylinders or to refill the tank on your gas grill.
• Restock household necessities. Don’t forget extra batteries for flashlights and a radio as well as matches.
• Recharge your cell phone.
• Take as much cash as possible from your bank or ATM. You want small bills if possible.
• If you have pets, make sure you have adequate food stored for them.
• Get out some nonelectric fun like board games, jigsaw puzzles, books, and a deck of cards.
Your best bet for the kind of bulk purchasing that you will need to do is one of the big-box stores. You can buy case lots of canned goods and extra-large sizes of nonperishables at a considerable savings.
Balance your needs against community needs. Stocking up before a crisis is wise. Buying all of any essential item like water or gas in the midst of a crisis is hoarding. Strive to be one of the good guys.
PART 3 DEALING WITH DISASTER WHAT TO DO IN AN EMERGENCY
W
HEN YOU ARE SITTING, WARM AND FED, IN YOUR
own living room, it can be easy to forget about emergency planning. Like the fiddling grasshopper, we are tempted to believe that there will always be more time. Winter will come but not today. We will prepare our house and put some food by at some point, just not today. But winter always comes and the unprepared are cold and hungry. The truth is, real crisis can occur with little or no warning. The time to prepare is now, when the sun is shining and you have the time and resources to make the necessary arrangements to care for yourself and your family, no matter what circumstances arise.
I understand people’s reluctance to prepare for crisis. It can be depressing to think about the many ways we are at risk. How much easier it is to turn on the television and watch a pretend catastrophe with a neatly packaged, happy ending. To examine the reality of our global condition makes it impossible to ignore how vulnerable we all are.
Crisis can take many forms. Every segment of the country is prone to particular natural disasters, such as a floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, severe heat, winter storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, tsunamis, or wildfires. Our dependence on an increasingly complicated and interdependent web of services and service providers makes us particularly vulnerable to technological disasters such as a power grid failure. A serious worry in an unstable political world is the threat of terrorism, whether in the form of bombs, biological threats, chemical threats, nuclear threats, or attacks on our food and water supply. Viral epidemics or even pandemics are another serious concern of the modern world.
It would be impossible for anyone to be prepared for every possible disaster. I am not even certain it would be healthy to spend one’s life on the constant lookout for the worst possible scenario. Still, some crises can be predicted and it behooves families to think about what they can do to protect themselves from the most likely difficulties.