The recent storms and subsequent damage after Hurricane Sandy are a strong reminder that having a solid plan BEFORE a disaster strikes or an emergency occurs is critical. In an emergency, how ready are you?
1. Do you know what emergencies or disasters are most likely to occur in your community?
2. Do you have a family emergency or disaster plan that you've gone over and practiced at least once or twice? Do you know what a disaster plan is?
3. Do you have an emergency preparedness kit in your house and and another in your car that includes food, water or filtration, clothing, prescriptions meds and first aid basics for all members of the family?
4. Is at least one member of the household trained in first aid or at least CPR/AED?
Even when you KNOW you need to be more prepared, if you're like most of us, you answered NO to all four of these questions. So let's look at some resources to help before disaster strikes.
Have A Plan For Each Emergency That Could Strike Your Area
Become familiar with all types of disasters that may occur. Learn about how to prepare and handle emergencies involving everything from chemical emergencies to fires, floods, and winter storms, to food safety and the flu. The Red Cross offers extensive assistance here. Take some time NOW to become familiar with each potential emergency.
Be prepared to stay home or leave.
- Prepare your house support your family without anyone leaving for at least a week.
- If you think you need a generator, for heat, or for medical devices, do the research now and find out what size you need. They won’t be available during the emergency.
- Prepare your car by creating a car kit (more below)
Use this amazing tool from The Red Cross to calculate your food and water needs. It’s modular. It begins as a video and progresses to a series of tools. You can jump ahead, but I recommend going through the entire thing for ideas.
Write your plan out and make copies.
A good place to start is with this downloadable Family Emergency Plan. Use the download as is or to create a template of your own. Put it in your kit, and put your kit in a safe place. Go over your plan with family members and even share it with friends in case you have to combine resources. (I recommend not filling in the social security numbers.)
Practice your plan.
- Communication: How will you inform everyone of the plan no matter where you are? By cell phone, text, email or even by radio if they are in range. If lines are busy or down, designate a family member or friend in another area for people to contact in some way and leave messages. Lines are sometimes open further from the disaster. Texts can often get through even when lines are clogged.
- See how long it takes to close up your house or grab your pre-packed disaster kits and get out. Try to do it within 10 – 15 minutes.
Have a plan for your home.
- Are you high and dry? If you live on or near a flood plain be prepared to leave quickly in the event of a hurricane or water-main break.
- Are you stocked with food? Good choices include dried goods, such as dried fruit and nuts; jarred goods, such as peanut butter and preserves; canned goods (preferably with pop tops in case you end up taking them with you in a car or to a shelter).
- Are you stocked with water? Have at least one gallon per person per day for at least 3 days to one week.
- Do you have a water filtration device? What if water is short and you need to make your own? Do you know you can boil water (rolling boil) for 2 to 3 minutes to make it safe? A filtration bag, such as those offered by Katadyn, will filter several gallons of dirty water almost instantly. Just hang it up and drink or even shower. Lifesaver is a great new source for purification plus 100% recycled water bottles and large containers for storing clean, pathogen-free water.
- Do you have a first aid kit? I’ve prepared a list of essentials for your first aid kit here.
- Be prepared to be bored. Kids go crazy with no TV or games and they will drive you crazy as well. Have an anti-boredom plan.
Have a plan for your car.
Be prepared every day by never letting your fuel tank get below half full. Ambulances fill up when they get to 2/3 of a tank as a matter of protocol. Keep your car in good working order. Learn how to change a tire. Have a car kit with these essentials at the ready.
- Your car may be your charging hub in the event of a blackout. A mobile power inverter can be very helpful in this case. I bought a Targus that is small and has a fan to keep it cool
(about $29).
Have a meeting place or secondary location planned and stocked in advance.
This could be a garage somewhere, a cabin, a campsite, a friend’s house or a vacation house.
Do disaster drills with the kids. Try Flashlight Night: Plan to turn out all the lights once per month and use candles and flashlights only for a few hours. Play games by candlelight. Tell stories. It can be fun and it makes loss of electric in a pinch a lot less frightening experience for kids.
Learn CPR and stay up to date.
CPR for Infants: http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/infantcpr.html
CPR for children 1 to 8 years old: http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/childrencpr.html
CPR for Adults: http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/quickcpr.html
Save-a-Life Simulator (for a walk through of a cardiac emergency): http://www.heartrescuenow.com/
Important Links
Keep these links in a file because they are likely to be updated by the owners of the sites whereas printed material is static.
RedCross
Flood Safety Checklist:
http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340128_Flood.pdf
Hurricane Safety Checklist:
http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340160_Hurricane.pdf
Power Outage Checklist:
http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340180_PowerOutage.pdf
Winter Storm, Frostbite and Hypothermia:
http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340104_Frostbite_and_Hypothermia.pdf