Just Google Emergency Preparedness, and you will be presented with an array of books, websites, and gear. All of them screaming that they are the best. Your head will be spinning before you know it. You may even get the desire to head for the hills, or start that bunker in the backyard. If you remember that Emergency Preparedness is a journey, and that even the longest journey has to start somewhere, it might not seem so overwhelming. The best place to start your Emergency Preparedness is with the basics. 99% of disasters and emergency preparedness situations can be overcome by focusing on Water, Food, Shelter, Sanitation, and Security. I’ll discuss all of these in upcoming posts but today we’ll concentrate on the very basics.
Emergency Preparedness: Where do I start?
Building a good 72 Hour Kit is the best place to get started. If you watched the struggles of those burdened by Hurricane Sandy in the Fall of 2012, you saw what can happen to the unprepared. Who wants to be eating out of a dumpster just a few days after a disaster? A home 72 hour kit filled with the basics of emergency preparedness is good insurance against the unknown!
72 Hour Kit
- 3 gallons of water per person in your household.
- 3 days of non-perishable food. Canned and dry goods are perfect for this. Make sure to have some stuff that doesn’t need to be cooked, just in case.
- Flashlights and batteries (Those Cheap LEDs from Home Depot are awesome)
- A hand crank emergency radio (We really like our Ambient Weather WR-111B
)
- A good First Aid Kit (Backdoor Survival has a post that is worth checking out on this)
- Extra blankets ( The old Wool Army Blankets
are in my personal kit)
- An extra supply of an Medications you maybe taking.
A kit like this will get you through most disasters. It won’t be a lavish existence but as long as your home is still standing it should keep you out of the Shelter! This would be considered the bare bones of emergency preparedness and the foundation to build upon.
In the coming months I’ll be fleshing this out into a comprehensive plan that will be easy to enact and easy on the wallet! Subscribe to my e-mail newsletter to be notified of the next installment.
Further Resources
A great master list in a printable PDF can be found here
A collection of old posts about dealing with the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
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