Imagine a typical evening at home. You’re sitting in the living room, watching television. Your spouse is in the kitchen cooking dinner. Your daughter is in her room, surfing the internet. Your son is down the block at a friend’s house. The dog is in the backyard. Everything is as peaceful as it can be.
BAM! BAM! There’s a knock on the door. When you answer it you find a police officer on the other side. He tells you there has been a terrible train accident a few miles to the south. A dangerous chemical has spilled and you must evacuate in the next fifteen minutes. Take only what you need for the next three days.
By now, your mind is racing. Part of you is still trying to process what you just heard, and another is telling you to move fast. You’ve never had to deal with a situation like this before. What do you take with you? How do you explain what’s going on to your family? How do you contact your son at his friend’s house? Do you take the dog, or leave him behind? What about the family pictures? Will you ever be allowed to come back?
This is a horrifying scenario, and the very reason every family should have an evacuation plan. The plan should include pre-staged bags, filled with supplies. Each person in the house should have a bag that includes at least one change of clothes, and basic supplies, like hygiene products, bottled water, and ration bars. These will complement a larger, family emergency kit. Also include a kit for your pet if you have one. And don’t forget to keep your important documents handy. An ounce of preparation now will save you a gallon of panic later.
By Jason M. Watts (Contributing Writer to 1800prepare.com)
A few days after we settled down from Hurricane Sandy we were hit with a Nor’easter. While we did have some advance notice, I don’t think people realized how bad the snow would be and how bad the roads would be. Driving home from work on Wednesday was terrible. A normal 25 minute drive took 3 hours. Highways were shut down, there were multiple accidents and cars by the dozen were scattered all over the road (and off the road). Winding through the back roads I found myself stopping every 5 minutes or so to help clear an accident or get a car moving again. I always keep multiple kits in my car which came in very handy. From this car kit I had to use the tow rope, reflective triangle, jumper cables, safety vest, work gloves, multi-function shovel, flashlight and tire puncture sealer. I have had this kit in my car for some time and only used one or two items in the past. I was actually amazed that in one trip home…so many of the items came in handy. Now I have to replenish some of the supplies but I couldn’t imagine driving a vehicle without this or a similar kit in the back.
Hurricane Sandy hit our town lost power. It affected probably 80+% of the community and some people still don’t have their power back almost 2 weeks later. One of the kits we pulled out when we lost power was this one. My family all moved into our living room where we used the fireplace to keep warm. Fro this kit we used the Dynamo Lantern to give us light to play a board game, the squeeze lights for our kids to walk around the house, the two 30 hour emergency candles to give us more light in the room we were in and also the light sticks. I gave one to each of my children. They thought it was fun to carry them around which helped take their minds of the storm and it helped me to keep track of them. These were all very simple items that I could have bought separately but ti was nice that they were all in one place, unused and were there for this situation. To often with regular items we buy they are strewn all over the house and non-operational when we need them.
In the past year we have seen many serious disasters around the world. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Fires, Terror Attacks and even a Nuclear disaster. This has driven more and more people to begin to increase their own personal level of preparedness. While there are many steps to doing this…one simple one is to get a kit that contains the basic supplies you need to either shelter in place or evacuate and have what you need to survive.