Is your family
prepared?
It is 2:00 am in the
morning and your house is on fire!
Is your Family
prepared?
A tornado hits
your neighborhood! Is your family
prepared?
Your area is hit
with a wildfire! Is your family prepared?
The snow flurries
predicted ended up to be a blizzard by the time you head home from
work! Are you prepared, Is your family
prepared?
You are stuck in
traffic for a couple hours with a pair of children who have tired
of the game " I see a dog or cow". Are
you prepared?
Flood - Home
Invasion - Hurricane - Thug on the street - Power Outage - Riots
Auto Break down - Family Illness - Someone Drops the Big one -
family - emergencies - disaster preparedness - emergency
preparedness
Is your family
prepared?
Many years ago the
average citizen made light of the Survivalist movement. Most
people thought the Survivalists were nuts for believing that they
needed to be self sufficient and prepared for the world as we know
it coming to an end. That was until the Y2K scare that got
the average person rethinking the idea for being self-sufficient.
Ever since 9-11-2001 when the terrorism was brought to our land
people as well as the government became much more conscious of
needing to be prepared for natural and man made disasters. Most
recently hurricane Katrina brought forward in most peoples mind
the need for a plan of action and having emergency kits.
I can not imagine
that there is not one responsible person who has at least once
thought to evaluate their family's preparedness cross their mind.
In the past the average citizen considered preparedness plans to
boarder on paranoia, this is not the case now. In fact our
government has finally offered ideas for preparedness thru the
Home Land Security and other local, State and federal agencies. We
suggest that the information on our site is only the very tip of
the iceberg of family preparedness and you should continue to
research the information specific to your family's needs.
The following
suggestions well aid you in beginning to bring the overwhelming
process of preparedness down to a manageable level.
-
Educate yourself in
regards to family preparedness
-
Evaluate possible
risks
-
Develop a family
plan of action for natural and man made emergencies
-
Create Emergency
Kits for home - auto - personnel
-
Discuss and practice
plan of actions
Educate yourself
and Family: In order to be prepared for an emergency you 1st
need to be aware of the possible situations that could endanger
your family. For example you live in the foot hills of
Arizona there isn't a lot of reason to educate yourself and
prepare for a Hurricane. We suggest you refer to your state and
Federal Government's official sites, the Red Cross and other
responsible sites. The information found on most e-commerce sites
is sound information, however be careful of the many new gadgets
on the market. It is recommended that you purchase the best
products with in your budget - you will want them to work when you
need them, it could be the difference between life or death. The
following is a short list of sites that can provide additional
information:
Red Cross -
Center for Disease Control
-
Homeland Security
-
Fema for Kids -
USDA
Evaluate your
risks:
You need to evaluate the possible risks that your area and
lifestyle will present to your family, if you live by a forest you
should plan for an evacuation due to wildfire, if you live around
a military installation your risk may be greater. It is smart to
be aware of the potential risks in your area. Check with your
local and State governments preparedness plan of actions.
Plan of Action:
With all your planning and preparation you can not guarantee where
your family will be in the event of an emergency. It is vital that
you include in your plan of action a communication plan. The plan
will list the addresses, land line and mobile phone numbers for
home and work. If possible you will choose an out-of state contact
point who can coordinate the family phone calls (it is advisable
that the contact point is a person with vested interest such as a
grandparent or sibling).
The plan of action
should include a meeting point for a specific emergency, the
meeting point may not be the same for each emergency. For example,
it is the middle of the day, the adults are at work and the kids
are at school when a tornado rips thru your neighborhood. The
authorities will not allow anyone to enter the area, so a plan to
meet in front of the house will not work. Where as in the event of
a house fire the family will meet on the front sidewalk. One
source for a quality
communications
plan template is the federal
Homeland security which can be downloaded and filled out. Do not
forget to make copies, then forward to all family members and
persons important to you.
Creating
Emergency Kits:
Look to the Red Cross, Homeland Security and other resources for
ideas of essentials for all kits and ideas for optional items for
your specific needs. It is advised that you have two home
kits ready, a comprehensive kit if you plan to stay and another if
you have to evacuate ( bug out). All government emergency resource
agency will advise that the response time to mobilize an effective
relief effort is a minimum of three days. It is advised that your
home kits should allow for a minimum of 72 hours of essential
supplies.
The following is
an example of a very basic emergency kit:
Water:
You need a minimum of one gallon
of water per person -per day. We've found the best resource for
this is the one gallon sealed bottled waters from the grocery
store. To ensure freshness by drinking a gallon of the water each
week and replacing with a new one. (Use a
permanent marker to write the purchase date on each jug for
freshness rotation).
Food: The
stored food supply will depend on which kit you are restocking :
Home Kit or evacuation Kit. For the Evacuation kit you will
need to concentrate on lightweight easy to carry food supplies
such as energy bars, small boxes of cereal or cereal bars, peanut
butter, crackers or if you wish there also a wide variety of M.R.E.
style meals that can be purchased. Remember the kit is designed
for survival not a gourmet picnic. The Home Kit can and
should be a much more comprehensive supply of basics. Can goods
have a very long shelf life and offer additional liquid to your
diet than boxed or dehydrated foods. My family and I live in the
country approximately 8 miles from the grocery store and
invariable we can get snowed in for 2 - 3 days. We make it a point
to keep 30 days worth of canned goods in the pantry at all times,
a gallon of milk and two loaves of bread in the freeze at all
times. This may be extreme for others, simply adjust the amount to
your budget and situation. ( Also date
the cans by purchase date so you can rotate your stock)
Most of our stock of can goods are the normal items we
would eat with the addition of some canned meats that would not be
normal fare.
Clothing:
You will want to have a
minimum of two days of clothing per person in your bug out kit
that is appropriate for your climate.
Hygiene
Supplies: Hygiene supplies are another essential element for
your survival kits. Illness from poor hygiene have killed off more
third word peoples than starvation. Pack toothbrushes, toothpaste,
soap, comb, brush, towel, feminine hygiene supplies.
Emergency
Supplies: First Aid kit and manual (take the time to read the
manual now, not when you need it), flashlights, batteries, windup
or battery powered radios, 3 to 4 day supply of prescription
medications, disposable Hepa filler masks ( you never know)
Firearm - additional ammunition ( rotate ammunition at least once
a year)
The preceding was a
list of the barest minimum for a family preparedness kit. You need
to address the possible scenarios that could affect your family
and prepare your kit accordingly. We are not advocating that the
world is going to come to an end as we know it, however being
prepared is important. As stated earlier we live in the country,
we have well water and propane heat. We have a small 8KW generator
with a manual electrical throw switch in the house to operate our
well. lights and fan on furnace. We store 30 gallons minimum of
gas in the work shop of my barn for the generator, once a month I
dump 10 gallons into one of our vehicles and replace it with fresh
gas, During the summer it is every week since we have to mow 10
acres every week. Interestingly enough we started this web
site about the same time that North Korea set off their 1st bomb
and Iran began their tough talk. Your list of items for your kit
is only limited to your needs and budget.
Practice your
Plan: The human animal will initially respond to a situation
reflexively, thru muscle memory. Therefore the best way to prepare
for a situation is to practice your plan so that your reflex
action is the correct one. Make sure that your family is familiar
with the emergency kits and know how to operate any emergency
equipment ( You may be the 1st one to be disabled.) Make a
plan - Practice the plan - practice the plan.
Kit Storage:
Your compressive kit can
be stored most anywhere within your house. However keep additional
flashlights in high traffic areas of your home ( bedrooms - living
room - kitchen etc.) Your evacuation supplies should be easy to
carry and quick to grab, such as a bug out bag from
Maxpedition or a duffle type bag. ( be sure that the bags are
not too heavy for females or children in the event that the adult
male ( if any) are not available.
Auto Kits:
Having a kit for each car is also something to give consideration,
especially if you have females and or children in your life.
Although all people are created equal, I was raised old school and
it is my responsibility to protect and care for my family no
matter what. Make up a basic survival pack for each vehicle that
my wife, daughter, daughter in-law or my grand babies will be
traveling in. I make up a kit for them for each based on the
prevailing season and needs of the traveling group. For example we
have food bars and water in each car for the grand daughters.
diapers, panties and a change of clothes. This is not in case of
the world may come to an end, it is for traffic jams. spilled
drinks, missed potty stops etc. Be prepared and life gets easier.
It
is very important to note that children can easily be frightened
and dramatized when discussing possible disaster situations. we
strongly recommend that they are initially discussed away from the
kids. Once your plan is made, then put into words that will reduce
the stress on the children. However bear in mind children are more
afraid of the unknown, please do your research on this topic.
We hope to
be adding pages on this subject very soon from a local specialist
in juvenile mental health.
There is an endless
number of companies producing pre-made survival kits. We can not
recommend them, as the survival needs for each family is unique
and you can not verify the quality or age of a pre-made kit.
Most preparedness
sites and company have chosen to ignore the need for a defensive
firearm, we can only believe is their concern for political
correctness. However we obviously believe in self defense and self
defense product such as a handgun - shotgun or carbine. We
recommend Self Defense classes, Self defense for women as part of
a plan for emergency preparedness. Disaster preparedness has been
around before we even knew such a phrase existed, either natural
or man made disasters, get prepared.
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