I spent sometime this weekend reading about emergency preparedness.
I decided to share with you 4 simple and basic things that we all can do
to be prepared for it so if the time comes we can be ready.
Some of the questions we should ask ourselves in order to be prepared for an emergency are:
Will our family know and recognize an emergency?
How will we find each other in case of an emergency?
Where will we find each other?
Will our basic needs be covered?
Here are a few tips that may help us to answer these questions.
1
Learn and teach our families to recognize emergencies.
We have the responsibility to learn about the hazards around us
and find out what disaster could happen to us.
These could be natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes.
These also could be domestic accidents such as fires or floods.
When we know what the hazards around us are it is a lot easier to cope with them
and prepare ourselves and our families for them.
Sit down as a family and talk about these hazards.
Teach the members of your family what to do for each given situation.
2
Have a plan.
Perhaps one of the most important things we all can do is to have a family plan.
Unfortunately a disaster can strike quickly and without warning.
It can force us to evacuate our neighborhood or confine us to our homes.
Emergencies can happen when family members are scattered in different places { boo! } such as work and school.
Pick TWO places to meet:
1. Right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency, like a fire.
2. Outside your neighborhood in case you can’t return home.
Everyone must know the address and phone number of these place.
A church, school, library or meeting house is a perfect place to meet.
3
Have an in and out of state contact list.
This is a list of phone numbers that every member of the family should have.
Keep in mind that after a disaster, it’s often easier to call long distance.
Keep this list on paper { cell phones run out of battery } and in an easy access place
such as your fridge, your car, and in your emergency kits.
Teach children how and when to call 9-1-1 or your local Emergency Medical Services number for emergency help.
4
Have a 72 Hour Kit.
This is a crucial part of an emergency plan.
After a disaster, local officials and relief workers will be on the scene,
but they cannot reach everyone immediately.
You could get help in hours, or as we have seen before it may take days.
Would our family be prepared to cope with the emergency until help arrives?
Water, food, first Aid Kit, non-prescription drugs, tools and supplies, sanitation products,
clothing and basic bedding, pets food and any medicines they may take, cash, entertainment and important family documents are all important basic things that we should have ready in case of an emergency.
TIPS:
Store your kit in a convenient place known to all family members.
Remember family members with special requirements, such as infants and elderly or disabled persons.
Children and adults should keep their emergency kits in their bedrooms.
Let the children take responsibility for their own backpacks and have the older children buddy-up and take care of younger brothers or sisters. Mom and dad should take care of baby.
Keep a smaller version of the Disaster Supplies Kit in the trunk of your car.
Always keep a pair of hard sole shoes underneath your bed.
These are just four basic things that we can start immediately to prepare ourselves.
I thought to put together a small list of Websites and Resources that may help us also to be ready.
SLVHD : Great site for step by step detailed emergency preparedness.
Be Ready Utah: Quick 72-Hour Kit Checklist
72 Hours Org: Quick Emergency Plan for different emergencies.
If you have any other tips, sources of experience with emergency preparedness please share it.
Drop a comment, I would love to hear and learn from you.
Well, I think this post gives you a good idea of what we are going to be talking about
during our Family Night in our home today.
Thank you so much for visiting!
Besos
Desirée
Thanks Desiree for the great tips! My heart goes out to Maureen! I hope she can let us know how she’s doing. My heart and prayers goes out to all that were affected by Sandy! I procrastinated about getting our disaster kits ready until a F-5 tornado hit Joplin, MO. We live about an hour and a half from there. We have them ready and a storm shelter now! I highly recommend that everyone get theirs ready and also apply the great suggestions you mentioned here. Now my saying is: Please don’t find yourself wishing you had one!
http://greatemergencykits.com/SurvivalKits
I taught elementary school for many years. I talked with my classes about being prepared in an emergency. As a group, we would come up with a list of items that needed to be in a kit. It was truly amazing some of the things the kids thought was necessary. I also had them make up a sample kit of 10 items that should be in their kit. As so many of us are going through bad weather this week, I really hope that my former students have remembered their kits!
Hi Desiree! This is a topic that I care very much about. I think people can easily get so overwhelmed that they just choose to turn their mind off from preparing. Your simple steps can be done in no time and it will make things 10 times easier in an emergency. Since I spend so much time on my blog talking about the food side of preparedness, I’d like to offer a few resources that have been around longer than I and they also do what I do. They like myself, are Shelf Reliance Consultants. The site is http://www.foodstoragemadeeasy.com. They have made some fantastic checklists that would be helpful. Hope that helps!
We have these 4 steps covered and it feels good to be ready in that way. My son is a bit young (3) but he is still involved in the process. Hopefully we won’t need any of our preparation. Be safe!
Please include your pets/any meds they may take and their food when you evacuate. If you wouldn’t stay there, neither should your pet.
Judy, great point. I will add it to the post. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this reminder! Granted, I can understand your current state with Hurricane Sandy bearing down on you but it is always a great idea to have these little reminders for us even before any emergencies might be upon us. I live in California and we are always in the midst of some kind of maybe emergency, be it fire, mudslides, floods or earthquakes you have reminded me to get our action plan updated and our packs re done.
Prayers to you all! Stay safe and hopefully we will hear from you soon:)
Michelle,
We are in Southern Utah and thank goodness we are not going through any type of emergency right now but as you say I think it is so important to be ready at all times. Thank you so much for visiting with us today and taking the time to drop a comment.
Have a wonderful week.
Desiree
Great tips Desiree!! My hubs is the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for the county (as part of his regular duties) and so this is something we are always discussing & planning for. I think most don’t think about it until they really need to- which is often too late.
You are so right. I think your words are very wise. Have a wonderful week my friend!
As I type this Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on us so I wish I had seen it earlier. For now we are hunkering down and praying for safety. We are on Long Island so we are taking a direct hit with lots of flooding and sustained high winds. I expect we will be without power for about 10 days from what they are saying. UGH!! Thanks for the important reminder and please stay safe!
Maureen,
Oh my goodness!
We are praying for you guys. Please stay safe.
…♥