Are You Prepared?   
 

If your city’s alarm system went off right now, warning you of immediate danger and requiring the evacuation of your family, would you be ready? If you haven’t thought about that, maybe it’s time that you do. In today’s world there are so many disasters that could strike in a moment’s notice. From natural disasters to a terrorist attack, we should be ready to protect our families by being prepared for these emergencies. 

In an immediate emergency, what do you need to survive? Experts tell us that we should have a “Go-bag” or “72-Hour Kit” ready for each member of our family in case of emergency. Something we can take with us right at the moment, that’s packed with essentials and ready to go. It’s a great idea to set aside a backpack for each member of your family for this purpose. 

There are many different options with regards to what to put in your go-bags. These are some of the basics. First of all, make sure each family member has an I.D. tag in their bag. You would also want to have a card listing their allergies (medication, food, stings) and copies of your insurance cards. If you have members of your family who wear glasses, try to have a back up pair in the bag. Emergency cash, in fairly small quantities is good; especially quarters for phone calls. 

Also in each bag you should include: A flashlight, extra batteries, a whistle, a pocket knife, a local map, a permanent marker and paper, a bit of twine, list of emergency phone numbers, toothbrush and toothpaste, an extra key to your home and vehicle, and some basic food and water. You can purchase food bars that have 2400-3600 calories per bar. They have a shelf-life of 5 years, and are specifically formulated to not cause thirst when eating them. A smart way to pack water easily is to purchase water pouches. They also have a 5 year shelf life, and you can pack one per meal. They are 4.227 ounces of water each, which is exactly the amount the Red Cross recommends you should drink per meal in an emergency. 

Don’t forget to put your go-bags in an easily accessible location. Do not hide them away under all the other junk in your garage. Make sure each family member knows where they are stored, and knows what is inside of them. Go over a family emergency plan. Pick a location to meet at in case you are not all together when the emergency first occurs. There are many other things you can do to prepare your family for an emergency, but this is a great start to help give you peace of mind in these turbulent times.  

Family Communications Plan

When I was a junior in high school, a natural disaster hit.  Late one spring afternoon, I was at my school at the softball field.  My softball team was having sliding practice since the field was so muddy and the weather was so overcast.  All of a sudden the wind started whipping around so fiercely that large drums that we used as garbage cans tipped over and started blowing away.  Debris stirred up everywhere and the air seemed to fill with dirt and dust.  The sky turned dark and it started to rain.  We all started running for our cars.  My mom was supposed to pick me up about an hour later, but we all just ran to cars and left as quickly as we could.  I jumped in the car with a teammate and we took off.  As we passed the school, the air pressure that had built up resulted in the windows of the school exploding.  Large tree limbs scattered the road and a horrific roaring seemed to be right on top of us.  We had no idea what was happening, we just knew we needed to get as far away as fast as we could. 

We later learned that a tornado had hit our city.  We didn’t live in an area where tornadoes occurred very frequently and we were caught by surprise.  I ended up going home with a friend, and didn’t know if my mom and sister were OK.  A few hours later, we were all reunited since the phones were only out for a short time.  Trees fell on houses and there was substantial property damage to some homes.  We were lucky.  It could have been much worse.  We didn’t have an emergency plan in place and we could have been separated for days, not knowing where our loved ones were or if they were safe. 

I have worked on an emergency plan with my family so that my kids know what to do in an emergency.  If we need to evacuate our house (think house fire or gas leak) we meet at the park across the street from our home.  If we have to evacuate our city, I am in charge of picking up our children from school and then meeting my husband at a local fast food place just off an interstate exit.  We know that whatever may occur, we have a plan in place so that our family can be together.

The number 3 is a magic number when it comes to emergency preparedness. You can survive for about 3 hours without shelter, about 3 days without water, and about 3 weeks without food. So, to keep with the magic number, we should try to find 3 ways to deal with each of those situations.

For shelter, there may be circumstances where we can shelter in place and use our home as a shelter. Other times we may be stuck in our cars. Keeping some basic items in our car in case we need to use it as a shelter can be life-saving. Some water pouches, survival food bars, hand warmers, emergency blankets, a Ready candle, and waterproof matches can help us keep warm in a winter storm situation. And what if a major earthquake made sleeping in your home impossible? Consider a backpacker dome tent or even a tube tent plus emergency sleeping bags.

Next is water. You can store a lot of water in your home by using the 30 gallon barrels and then adding the water preserver so you only have to change the water every 5 years instead of every year. You can also think about portable water in case evacuation becomes necessary. The 5 gallon stackable water containers are great for this purpose. And what if you had access to water, but it was contaminated? Think about potable aqua and an MSR miniworks water filter. The miniworks can filter up to 500 gallons of water, so it is a great tool to invest in.

Last is food. Survival food bars are compact enough to store in your car or even in your desk at work. You can store MREs and freeze-dried pouches in your 72-hour kits. And the #10 cans of freeze-dried food are terrific to store in your home for longer term food storage.

Emergencies and disasters don’t always happen how we plan, so by taking steps to resolve these 3 essential issues in at least 3 ways, you can feel secure in your emergency preparations.

    I’ve noticed that a lot of television shows and movies that are being shown these days have an end of the world type theme to them.  On each show a bomb goes off, a meteor hits the earth, or aliens land in their spaceships and start blowing things up.  luckily for the main characters, they always have a radio on hand to find out any relevant information from the government or whoever is now running the show.  It made me think about what type of radio I should have in case of an emergency.  I’m sure we all used to have an AM/FM radio with our tape players, but with the new technology of CDs and MP3s I think that radios are being used less.  There are also four different bandwidths for radio now, so I wanted to find out which would be the best option.  This is what I found out.

FM radio is the most popular when it comes to listening to music, but it’s not so great for an emergency.  The FM transmissions have a very short wavelength.  At most, they can only be received about 75 miles from the site of origin.  This might be ok if you live in a big city, but out in the country or in the mountains you would be out of luck.

AM radio has long been a source of news broadcasts and information.  Unlike the short wavelengths of FM radio, the AM transmissions use long wavelengths that can travel across the world.  AM radio is more prone to static than FM, but it is more ideal if you are needing to find out what is happening in your city, state, or country.  If a natural disaster wipes out your town, such as Hurricane Katrina did, then the local radio stations will not be broadcasting any information.  You would need a radio that would pick up a transmission from a neighboring town or state.

A relatively new band of radio is the satellite radio.  These are becoming more popular in both cars and homes and they are a great source of information.  With satellite radios you can receive real time weather and traffic reports for anywhere in the country.  This can be extremely useful if your town is being evacuated and you need to find a way out that isn’t so crowded.  The Red Cross has even started their own station on XM radio to provide important information to the victims and workers of Hurricane Katrina.  They are able to use it to give information, make announcements, and send messages to a large amount of people at the same time.

Finally, the shortwave radios is an option, especially if you plan on using a bomb shelter.  The shortwave radio can receive transmissions from all over the world.  You could be in Montana and find out what is going on in China.  So if something were to happen to the main broadcasting stations in our country, you could still find out what is happening by listening to chatter from other countries.

Satellite radios tend to be the most expensive and you usually have to pay a monthly service charge to have access to them.  They are worth the money though, especially if you travel a lot because the reception is great anywhere you go.  Most regular radios come with both AM and FM bands, and are the least expensive.  These will work well for most cases.  If you decide to go with a shortwave radio, you can purchase one for under $50.00, and in the mean time you’ll be able to listen to different types of music from all over the world.