Emergency Preparedness

Angela and I have been working on a project for about 6 weeks now and this Saturday we finally finished it! The project?

Creating an emergency kit and making sure we are prepared in case something happens.

What's the something you ask? Well, it could be anything. In our neck of the woods it most likely will be an earthquake that's stronger than the ones we've experienced recently. Or maybe another type of natural disaster. Or maybe an extended power outage, like the one on that show Revolution I keep meaning to watch. (But most likely our kit will not help us much in the event of a zombie attack, if my viewing of The Walking Dead is at all accurate. But Angela has expressed her desire to just be killed immediately if that happens, she has no desire to battle walkers, so maybe the kit will sustain me if that happens.)

We run our Neighborhood Watch group and each month we talk about being prepared for different events. Angela has participated in the Great Shake Out each year through LAUSD, which is a simulated earthquake-type event where they practice their roles. And we had some water and corned beef from when we first moved to L.A. but we recently decided that would not be enough. So this summer when Angela and I both stumbled upon a blog posting about being prepared, we decided to take action and do it right this time. It took a while to collect all of the necessary things, many of which we had to purchase, but I think we both feel somewhat comforted by the notion that if something bad happens, we can try to manage it with some supplies.

On Saturday we put the kit together in the tub we bought and these are some pictures of what went in it. A full set of clothes including shoes, for both of us. Glasses for me (conveniently I just got new glasses so the old, unattractive pair, goes in the box!), plastic sheeting in case of airborne emergencies, etc. We bought a hand-crank flashlight this spring and it works, not that well, but it'll be good if the batteries go out in the regular ones we have. We also bought a Red Cross approved hand-crank emergency radio. The Red Cross kit pictured above is something I won at a community event last year and we threw it in for good measure. There's a poncho and warming blanket in it which Angela has already claimed. Yeah, there are 2 whistles so there won't be a fight over those.

We fashioned a first aid kit from the list we found. I substituted some things like bleach with wet ones and hand sanitizer. It took some legwork to find the waterproof matches. And I still don't know the difference between peroxide and rubbing alcohol so we bought both. We didn't put any prescription drugs in the kit, just some pain reliever but if you take medicine regularly, it's suggested you put that in. Angela figures that in case of extreme emergency her anxiety meds won't really help her anyway so no need to get an extra bottle.

We put old shoes in but shoes that will be okay for walking or running (God forbid). I think these are really important since an emergency might occur at night when you're not thinking about what to grab or have nothing on your feet. It's also why I keep shoes under my bed for quick access. We added food that won't go bad quickly, won't require much prep (nothing here requires so much as even a can opener, but if you put tuna in your box, put in a can opener!). We did nuts and canned meat and peanut butter (with spoons!). We'll also check our box once a year and refresh the water and food as needed. See the plaid blanket above? That's from my car, and that's mine because I don't get a poncho!

We had originally purchased these 3 Day Emergency Backpacks and are keeping them close as well. This one is 2 years old, bought after the last big quake when the store had only 2 left. We have 1 in the house and 1 in each of our cars. They're pricey (about $90 if I remember correctly) but if you want easy, it's a great way to go!

Do we feel more secure? I guess Angela does! And yes, I think it's a good idea. It's great to know that in case something happens, we'll have some things we might need handy, in a tub that although heavy, I can carry with me if I need to leave my house immediately. Or if I can't get to a store or something. And basically, we put this kit together with the hope and faith that we'll never need to use it.

Here's a more comprehensive list of what we included in our Emergency Preparedness Kit:

• 3-day ready made kit
• Plastic container for kit/supplies
• Ziplocs for storage of open food/supplies
• Water - 3 gallons per person
• Food - highly caloric, canned (we have peanuts, peanut butter, granola bars, canned meat, and the energy bars included in the 3-day kit)
• First aid kit including gloves, gauze, tape, antibiotic ointment, pain reliever
• Surgical masks (in 3-day kit)
• Clothing (we included both short- and long-sleeved shirts, yoga pants, bras, underwear, socks, shoes)
• Sunscreen and lip balm
• Waterproof matches
• Fire extinguisher (this isn't technically in our kit but we have one in the house, we're going to look into getting another one for the kit/house though because Angela learned at the last Great Shake Out that the Red Cross/city recommends having them as police/fire may not be able to get to us quickly)
• One large flashlight per person/batteries (we have hand-crank varieties too)
• Hand-crank radio
• Utility knife
• Whistles with lanyards (in 3-day kit)
• Cash (the suggestion was $150, we have a cash stash of over $200 which isn't in the kit but is in the house)
• Hand sanitizer/wipes and/or chlorine bleach to use as cleaner
• Tampons/pads
• Garbage bags
• Blankets - 1 per person
• Duct tape and plastic sheeting
• Fun stuff - we chose 2 decks of cards though Angela says she needs to brush up on her card games now  (if we find a cheap Uno deck, that may go in at some point)
• Documents (this took some time but we felt it was really important regardless of putting the kit together or not) - all are copies (not originals! those are in the fireproof lockbox in the house!) which are included in a Ziploc/waterproof bag
• Passports
• Driver's licences
• Bank accounts
• Credit cards
• Birth certificates
• Social security cards
• We also put all of our digital photos on a flash drive and put a copy in the lockbox

In addition, we talked about our emergency communication plan. I put cards in both of our wallets that include our cell numbers, contact numbers for people out of state (Mom and Dad!), and where to meet if something happens and we can't get to our house (Angela's school which is within walking distance of here and is a Red Cross/city shelter). We made sure our car kits were up to date and also made sure Angela has some things at school in case something happens while she's there.

We still have to find out how to turn off the natural gas and main water source at our house but we're well on our way to being prepared. And basically, that's all we can ever do, right? Prepare?

So that's what we've been up to. Not sure what we'll do with all of our spare time now that this project's complete! But it's one of those things that's good to be done with.