If your Go Bag is not yet complete, please decide what you need to do to make it ready for you to use in case of an evacuation in your area.
This blog has quite a number of posts on the subject of Go Bags. I have several on how to choose a Go Bag. I have mentioned that my preference is a backpack because it will not throw your off balance by carrying it and your hands will be free.
You can move faster and climb and scramble more easily and safely. This can be important if the evacuation in your area turns into gridlock and the streets become impassible to vehicles. It is fairly likely you will need to climb over cars in really badly gridlocked intersections.
Wandering dogs can be common during a disaster. They will often be frightened and confused and more likely to be a threat to you and your loved ones as you attempt to evacuate past said dogs.
Be sure to include the best radio that you can afford in your Go Bag. A friend got a very small cheap wind up radio and was disappointed. The cheap radio does not get a good signal even when conditions for the signal are almost ideal. It is just not good to think about what might have happened if you were stuck with a cheap radio in the middle of disaster.
I also have lots of posts on this blog about picking out an emergency radio. One of the posts mentions a new kind of alert system that will let you know sooner that trouble is heading your way.
As I mentioned yesterday, I am in the middle of major re- or organizing my home and especially my emergency preparedness supplies. That means I am not going to write a very long post for a few days.
I wish you a Happy New Year! again, and hope you work on your emergency preparedness. That way I know you will be safer if an emergency arises near you.
Showing posts with label Go Bag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Go Bag. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Prepare For Disasters - Make Your Family Safer
The Red Cross is a quasi-goverment organization. They work so closely with the govenment of the US that they are almost part of it. They usually arrive on the scene of a disaster before most government agencies do. They specialize in preparedness training and putting up and running shelters. They are a huge organization and their web site reflects all this. It is so big and complex that even people who work for the Red Cross don't know about the whole site.
The Red Cross site(s) are something that can easily overwhelm one if you let it. Don't let it overwhelm you. It is just fine to look around on it a little, but put your time into getting your basic preparedness supplies first and working out your personal and family disaster plan. After you do that you can cruise the Red Cross site and spend the rest of your life getting educated about disaster preparedness.
The Red Cross depends on volunteers and likes more of them any time. If you feel moved to become a Red Cross volunteer they do have fringe benefits. You may get a discount on classes with them. CPR, AED and First Aid are something every family should have at least one family member certified to be able to do. The Red Cross class is kind of pricey, but what is a life worth?
If you can't afford a Red Cross class even at a discount there are other options. FEMA recently paid for CPR, AED and First Aid for free all over the country. I got my certificate free because I am a volunteer leader for my local Neighborhood Emergency Watch. That is not to be confused with the crime fighters. The one I volunteer for is for getting prepared for emergencies like fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. Funds for this are limited so don't wait. My training was given through the American Heart Association, paid by the local Emergency Management Center, with funding that came from FEMA. You don't have to be a Neighborhood Emergency Watch Leader to get free training, but you get cuts in line for it and they are already low on the free classes in my area.
The Red Cross used to have a list that was specifically for go bags. A search on their site brings up pages of not necessarily directly relevant information and it could take a while to find out for sure if they still have the go bag list. I don't have a lot of time to write this today, so I am going to give you some suggestions on how to pare down your list of items to take with you to a shelter or if you can not take much with you to evacuate.
I would start with copies of important papers and medical necessities. I like hand sanitizer because studies I have read say that most diseases are spread by hand contact. Hand sanitizer does not require water, which may be hard to come by, especially clean water. I also like something to clean with like a washcloth. They have super absorbent towels that are very small and weigh very little. They are usually expensive.
Shelters are very boring and you can spend a lot of time just sitting with nothing to do. Something to entertain yourself and your family, especially if you have children, may prevent another disaster by keeping you occupied enough to avoid strangling each other. The entertainment would be better if it does not involve electricity, or batteries, neither of which may be available.
If anyone in the family is high-strung you might want to bring something like Bach Rescue Remedy. It is an herbal calming solution that does not use drugs and is not habit forming. You might want to check the ingredients to see that nobody is allergic to anything in it. I use it for my pets when I take them to the vet and it works very well for that purpose. It is made for humans, though.
No pillows are given in shelters, if you need one, bring it. You may not be happy with the blankets either, but you have to decide how much you can carry and what space there will be for what you bring. If you are simply evacuating, the space in your vehicle or on your back is the limiting factor.
At least a change of underwear and socks is a good idea, and an entire change of clothes per person, if you can manage it. I find it helpful to pick my backpack to be used as a go bag and actually pack it to help decide what to leave out. You have probably already noticed that suggested items could fill up a huge vehicle and leave no room in it for people if you were to take them all. It will definitely be necessary to prioritize what to bring.
I lightly pencil in priority numbers on a printed list and start with the top ones and work my way down. Checking to see what will fit in your go bag periodically is very useful. Checking to see what you can actually comfortably carry and still walk is also useful.
Here are a couple of links to Red Cross pages of a supply list and a print out of emergency contact cards for all family members to have with them at all times. Emergencies are rarely conveniently scheduled for when you have everything you need handy.
Red Cross PDF supplies suggestions
Red Cross PDF Family Emergency contact cards to print out for each family member
No supplies are much use unless you are able to use them. I suggest you and your family practice. I will blog about that too.
The Red Cross site(s) are something that can easily overwhelm one if you let it. Don't let it overwhelm you. It is just fine to look around on it a little, but put your time into getting your basic preparedness supplies first and working out your personal and family disaster plan. After you do that you can cruise the Red Cross site and spend the rest of your life getting educated about disaster preparedness.
The Red Cross depends on volunteers and likes more of them any time. If you feel moved to become a Red Cross volunteer they do have fringe benefits. You may get a discount on classes with them. CPR, AED and First Aid are something every family should have at least one family member certified to be able to do. The Red Cross class is kind of pricey, but what is a life worth?
If you can't afford a Red Cross class even at a discount there are other options. FEMA recently paid for CPR, AED and First Aid for free all over the country. I got my certificate free because I am a volunteer leader for my local Neighborhood Emergency Watch. That is not to be confused with the crime fighters. The one I volunteer for is for getting prepared for emergencies like fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. Funds for this are limited so don't wait. My training was given through the American Heart Association, paid by the local Emergency Management Center, with funding that came from FEMA. You don't have to be a Neighborhood Emergency Watch Leader to get free training, but you get cuts in line for it and they are already low on the free classes in my area.
The Red Cross used to have a list that was specifically for go bags. A search on their site brings up pages of not necessarily directly relevant information and it could take a while to find out for sure if they still have the go bag list. I don't have a lot of time to write this today, so I am going to give you some suggestions on how to pare down your list of items to take with you to a shelter or if you can not take much with you to evacuate.
I would start with copies of important papers and medical necessities. I like hand sanitizer because studies I have read say that most diseases are spread by hand contact. Hand sanitizer does not require water, which may be hard to come by, especially clean water. I also like something to clean with like a washcloth. They have super absorbent towels that are very small and weigh very little. They are usually expensive.
Shelters are very boring and you can spend a lot of time just sitting with nothing to do. Something to entertain yourself and your family, especially if you have children, may prevent another disaster by keeping you occupied enough to avoid strangling each other. The entertainment would be better if it does not involve electricity, or batteries, neither of which may be available.
If anyone in the family is high-strung you might want to bring something like Bach Rescue Remedy. It is an herbal calming solution that does not use drugs and is not habit forming. You might want to check the ingredients to see that nobody is allergic to anything in it. I use it for my pets when I take them to the vet and it works very well for that purpose. It is made for humans, though.
No pillows are given in shelters, if you need one, bring it. You may not be happy with the blankets either, but you have to decide how much you can carry and what space there will be for what you bring. If you are simply evacuating, the space in your vehicle or on your back is the limiting factor.
At least a change of underwear and socks is a good idea, and an entire change of clothes per person, if you can manage it. I find it helpful to pick my backpack to be used as a go bag and actually pack it to help decide what to leave out. You have probably already noticed that suggested items could fill up a huge vehicle and leave no room in it for people if you were to take them all. It will definitely be necessary to prioritize what to bring.
I lightly pencil in priority numbers on a printed list and start with the top ones and work my way down. Checking to see what will fit in your go bag periodically is very useful. Checking to see what you can actually comfortably carry and still walk is also useful.
Here are a couple of links to Red Cross pages of a supply list and a print out of emergency contact cards for all family members to have with them at all times. Emergencies are rarely conveniently scheduled for when you have everything you need handy.
Red Cross PDF supplies suggestions
Red Cross PDF Family Emergency contact cards to print out for each family member
No supplies are much use unless you are able to use them. I suggest you and your family practice. I will blog about that too.
You Can Prepare For Disasters
There is not so much need to worry about what will happen in a disaster if you plan for what you will do and prepare for it. It is not a really difficult thing to do if you find out what you will need and break down what you need to have and do to get ready.
There are several government agencies and nonprofits that have information available to the public about what to do in a disaster. I will provide links to some of them in this blog post.
There are two main ways to deal with a disaster. One is to evacuate to a safer place, perhaps a shelter that has been set up for people who have been evacuated. The other is to stay put and "shelter in place". If local authorities tell you that it is necessary to evacuate, you need to pay attention to them and evacuate. People who do not do this often end up dead. If you are told that it is ok to stay put and take shelter in your home, then you can shelter in place.
I believe the most important thing for you to have when a disaster happens is information. You need to know that the disaster has happened, what kind of disaster it is and whether the local authorities want you to evacuate. If you need to evacuate, you need to know where your shelter will be and safe ways to get to it. The emergency alert system tests that stop your radio and TV programs are to make sure the system works right in a disaster. The regular stations will stop normal broadcasting during an emergency alert and tell you where to tune in to find out what you need to know about the emergency.
There are many kinds of disasters and it can be overwhelming if you think you have to prepare for all of them at once. Relax, you do not need to do everything at once. There are certain things you will need in almost any disaster that are the same. Once you look at lists of disaster preparedness items you will see that once you are ready for one kind of disaster, you will be mostly ready for most other types of disasters.
The lists on the sites I am giving you links to are very comprehensive. They are meant to cover what many different people and families might need. Every person and every family is different. You and your family will probably not need everything on the list. You can start with what you think is most important. and work your way down to the less important and things you may not need at all.
If your time and budget are limited, you can prepare just a little bit at a time. You can start with being prepared for a disaster that lasts only a few hours and work your way toward longer term ones. One meal at a time for you and your family to be able to eat during a disaster is ok as a starting place. Next you can prepare for a whole day and then three days, and so on.
I would like to suggest that you prepare a "go bag" first. This is a package that you can easily carry, backpacks are good, in case you are in a disaster where you have to evacuate. The sites I will give you links to will have lists of suggested items for go bags. There may be items not listed that you will want in your go bag and the go bags for your family. Again, go bags are as different as the people who make them. You will probably not need everything on the go bag list.
Here are some sites with information about preparing for disasters and lists of suggested items for preparedness for go bags and sheltering in place:
This link to FEMA explains about Go Bags
This is FEMAs list of basic supplies.
PDF short basic list of supplies
This link has FEMAs ideas for making your disaster plan.
FEMAs ideas for plans depending on where you are when a disaster happens.
FEMAs in depth guide to preparedness
The list of preparedness supplies starts on page 31 in the last link. You will probably not want to start right off with FEMAs in depth guide to preparedness, because it is very long and has a lot of information to digest, but you can copy it and maybe print it out so you can get ready to read it later. Don't postpone this indefinitely, though. Most of us like to procrastinate and that can be fatal. This needs to be a priority for everyone. You could die if you are not ready to evacuate and have to run around grabbing things and looking for them at the last minute. Avoid that by being prepared.
I am going to do another post, or several, on other disaster preparedness sites because this one is getting too long. I want to make this easy to read for people who are not used to preparedness.
There are several government agencies and nonprofits that have information available to the public about what to do in a disaster. I will provide links to some of them in this blog post.
There are two main ways to deal with a disaster. One is to evacuate to a safer place, perhaps a shelter that has been set up for people who have been evacuated. The other is to stay put and "shelter in place". If local authorities tell you that it is necessary to evacuate, you need to pay attention to them and evacuate. People who do not do this often end up dead. If you are told that it is ok to stay put and take shelter in your home, then you can shelter in place.
I believe the most important thing for you to have when a disaster happens is information. You need to know that the disaster has happened, what kind of disaster it is and whether the local authorities want you to evacuate. If you need to evacuate, you need to know where your shelter will be and safe ways to get to it. The emergency alert system tests that stop your radio and TV programs are to make sure the system works right in a disaster. The regular stations will stop normal broadcasting during an emergency alert and tell you where to tune in to find out what you need to know about the emergency.
There are many kinds of disasters and it can be overwhelming if you think you have to prepare for all of them at once. Relax, you do not need to do everything at once. There are certain things you will need in almost any disaster that are the same. Once you look at lists of disaster preparedness items you will see that once you are ready for one kind of disaster, you will be mostly ready for most other types of disasters.
The lists on the sites I am giving you links to are very comprehensive. They are meant to cover what many different people and families might need. Every person and every family is different. You and your family will probably not need everything on the list. You can start with what you think is most important. and work your way down to the less important and things you may not need at all.
If your time and budget are limited, you can prepare just a little bit at a time. You can start with being prepared for a disaster that lasts only a few hours and work your way toward longer term ones. One meal at a time for you and your family to be able to eat during a disaster is ok as a starting place. Next you can prepare for a whole day and then three days, and so on.
I would like to suggest that you prepare a "go bag" first. This is a package that you can easily carry, backpacks are good, in case you are in a disaster where you have to evacuate. The sites I will give you links to will have lists of suggested items for go bags. There may be items not listed that you will want in your go bag and the go bags for your family. Again, go bags are as different as the people who make them. You will probably not need everything on the go bag list.
Here are some sites with information about preparing for disasters and lists of suggested items for preparedness for go bags and sheltering in place:
This link to FEMA explains about Go Bags
This is FEMAs list of basic supplies.
PDF short basic list of supplies
This link has FEMAs ideas for making your disaster plan.
FEMAs ideas for plans depending on where you are when a disaster happens.
FEMAs in depth guide to preparedness
The list of preparedness supplies starts on page 31 in the last link. You will probably not want to start right off with FEMAs in depth guide to preparedness, because it is very long and has a lot of information to digest, but you can copy it and maybe print it out so you can get ready to read it later. Don't postpone this indefinitely, though. Most of us like to procrastinate and that can be fatal. This needs to be a priority for everyone. You could die if you are not ready to evacuate and have to run around grabbing things and looking for them at the last minute. Avoid that by being prepared.
I am going to do another post, or several, on other disaster preparedness sites because this one is getting too long. I want to make this easy to read for people who are not used to preparedness.
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