Disaster Elephant...Yum! Gimme a Bite!

These folks are gearing up for the Great California Shake Out! (in October). Our Stake is also encouraging everyone in our area to get prepared and self reliant. Our regional leader has set the pattern for us and given us the goal: Lead By Example!

With that in mind we are all supposed to have our own family 72 hour kit made and ready to go. We're supposed to Make a Plan then Test Our Preparedness and use as many Tips and Resources we can find to secure our own self reliance.

So I am once again taking inventory. What you see in the photo is just part of what we have done to prepare for a natural (or otherwise) disaster. Each of our vehicles have a 72 hour kit for two persons, along with a 72 hour kit for the house.

We also have an extensive first aide kit, meaning it could do a bit more than "first" aide.

We have been advised to be prepared for 72 hours, food, water, fuel, clothing, whatever! Whatever we would use in three days time we need to have in reserve, ready to go at a moments notice. Last year our area suffered pretty harshly with fires, some neighborhoods were given literally 5 minutes time to grab what they could and leave.

Do we know where all our important documents (all insurances, deeds, tax files, photos, etc) are? Could we grab them all if we needed to? How about our medications, pet supplies, or special needs? All in five minutes? What if we were not home when the evacuation took place? What could we do to recover all those items that may be lost forever? Are they copied and stored in another secure location? Do we have an out of state contact to call and a plan in place to contact family members if local phone lines go down? Are we aware that if we don't contact FEMA at the time of your disaster, that we miss out on any and all future help?

Whew! There is SO much to do! That's why we are encouraged to take the first few bites from the Disaster Elephant now! Click on those links and pick something, one project, to start on. Get started on that 72 hour kit. When we have that accomplished, go for the First Aide Kit. Store our documents in a secure way that is easily collected later on; make a copy to store off the premises. Make a contact list and a family plan. After we get those things accomplished, begin to store for a more prolonged disaster.

The families in the fires of SoCAL are still reeling and trying to cope. The families from the Katrina Storm are still trying to recover. It has been years! Time to prepare now!

I have gone through my storage and I have found that I have more than I thought (but enough for long term?), but could use more variety and a better system for rotation of goods so that I am constantly utilizing my stored items effectively. I want to extend my resources. With the economy what it is, why not prepare for a little relief if I need it in a few months?

In the next few weeks I will share with you what I am doing, and hopefully, together we can better prepare ourselves for total self reliance during an emergency.