|
|
Be Prepared for Disasters
by Joyce Moseley Pierce
Disasters are like accidents. They can happen any time, anywhere. You
don't often have much time to respond. In the event of a hurricane, the
authorities will tell you to evacuate, but if you have to leave your
home in a hurry, what will you do? Where will you go?
If you're thinking that this doesn't apply to you, think again. A
disaster can be anything from an
earthquake, flood, tornado, or even an tanker spill on the freeway. Any
of these things may cause you to lose your gas, water, electricity or
ability to communicate with others.
In 2000, we had flooding in Houston. I ventured across town to attend a
friend's wedding, confident that if I got into trouble I could use my
cell phone. What I didn't realize, until much later, was that the storm
had knocked out all of the cell phone towers and there was no service.
Everyone should have an emergency kit. If there are five of you in the
house, then you need five kits. Each kit should have the basics. Don't
rely on dad to carry the bulk of the load. You never know when you might
be separated from one another.
Here are a few things to think about:
1. Have a plan. If you were to have to evacuate, where would you go? You
may not all be at home when you get word. Spend some time with your
family discussing where you would meet.
2. You may not have to actually leave your home. Maybe you just have
loss of power. It's still important to have enough to survive. What will
you eat? If you don't have power, how will you prepare it? Good idea to
have food you can eat right out of the bag or can.
3. Remember that if you have lost power, it's likely that your entire
area is out. Don't depend on the grocery stores to have enough to supply
all of you. Be sure to always have water, food, first aid supplies,
clothing and bedding, tools and emergency supplies in your home. Make
sure you have the medication you need. Get in the habit of refilling
things before you're completely out.
3. Anticipate having to leave your home. Prepare an emergency kit. Place
the items you need in something that's easy to carry. You might use a
backpack or duffle bag. You might use a rolling carry-on suitcase for
little children, but remember that you may not even have the option of
rolling it. Better to have something you can carry.
4. Keep some cash at home. I save my change, and when I turn it in for
dollars, I put that money in my emergency kit. This week, during the
aftermath of Katrina, Wal-Mart is allowing those who have cash to buy
off the shelf. With no electricity or phone lines, they can't process
credit cards.
5. Store your kit in a convenient place that is known by all family
members so you can grab it and run. Keep a smaller version of supplies
in your car.
6. Remember to review your kit once a year. Update water, food, and
batteries.
7. Keep your cars full of gas for emergency evacuations.
8. Consider scanning old photos to your computer and putting them on a
disk. If you're faced with flooding, the original may be destroyed, but
you've got a better chance of the disk surviving, and it will also take
up less space. Better yet, use a program that allows you to upload your
photos to the internet. That way you can access them from any computer.
9. Have a change of clothes and put the items in Ziploc bags or seal
them with a Food Saver. I
have a pair of knit workout pants, a clean shirt, socks, and a change of
underwear in my kit.
10. Include scriptures, paper and pen. Put them in bags to keep them dry
(Ziploc or Food Saver)
11. Be sure to have a first aid kit with the basics.
12. Carry three bottles of water. One for each day.
13. Include MREs (meal replacement bars) or packable food. Think about
what you'd take if you were going hiking. Include foods for energy.
You're going to need it.
14. Include toiletries. Tooth brush, tooth paste,soap, toilet paper.
15. Small radio with batteries. Check often to make sure batteries are
still good. It will be important to know what's going on if you have no
way of communicating with others.
16. Flashlight. There are some available that you can wind up and use.
No batteries needed.
If you've got a lot of money you can buy a pre-packaged emergency kit,
but I prefer to pack my
own and put those things that I know I will use. This kit works on the
same principle as insurance. You hope you never need it, but just in
case you do, you have it.
Make it a fun family night project. Talk to the family about the
importance of putting the kits together, and set a budget, if necessary,
for purchasing the things you need. Add a few things each time you go to
the grocery store, and in no time you'll have your kit ready to go!
About the author
Joyce is a freelance writer and owner of Emerson Publications. She is
the creator of
All They'll Need to Know, a workbook to help families
record personal and financial information. She is also the editor of The
Family First Newsletter, an ezine for families with young children. To
subscribe, familyfirst-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Copyright 2005
|
|
