Emergency Preparedness

Ok, so this is something that I’ve been reading up on for months now and now that we’ve been experiencing some widespread power outages in our city, it seems like it’s time for me to finally blog about it! And it just so happens that September is “National Preparedness Month”!

I had never really heard of disaster preparedness until I read about it on The Organized Mom blog. She writes every so often about different tips you can do to prepare your family for an emergency situation whether it be fire, flood, hurricane, power outage, earthquake, travel emergency, etc. She taught me the importance of being prepared- especially (in my mind) as a parent. I never really gave this stuff a second thought when I was single and even remember thinking- “What’s the point?” But now, as a parent, my opinion on it has changed. Our kids count on us to take care of them and to make decisions on their behalf. So trying to think of how THEY would feel in some of those situations helped me want to come up with a plan. It’s a long process and it can be expensive if you do everything at once, but I’m finding that just buying a little at a time will help build up a supply of food, water, emergency supplies within no time. Personally I can’t really think of building up a year supply of food or more like some of the sites suggest you should- just because I know there are children dying all over this world and I would rather send that money to them. But I do have a little stash of non-perishables in a Rubbbermaid tub in the basement which I may build up to eventually include maybe a months worth (haven’t decided how long yet). I’ve also created a large first aid kit from simple stuff at the dollar store,  a suitcase-turned-emergency kit which has all the emergency supplies like  flashlights, batteries (don’t store flashlights with batteries IN them, I’ve learned), work gloves, mylar blankets, duct tape, etc. (you’ll find more and more stuff you’ll want on some of the site I’m listing) and  an emergency file that I can easily grab that contains all must-have documents.

The Organized Mom site led me to another interesting site called My Family’s Disaster Plan where you can purchase a plan that you can customize for your family and your location/potential disasters. The man who creates these documents has a degree in Geology with an emphasis in Earth Science, Emergency Management, Environmental Science, and Natural and Technological Hazards. He is also has NUMEROUS FEMA certifications. His products include the My Family’s Disaster Plan which includes step-by-step instructions and fill-in-the-blank sections to create your disaster plan. The plan includes communication, evacuation, shelter-in-place, pets, and what to do in 16 different disaster situations. He also has a Drills and Maintenance Book which is designed to help your family keep track of routine rotation of emergency food and water, maintenance of smoke alarms, and performance of disaster drills. It comes with charts to help you stay on schedule and also includes drill sheets to help you conduct effective disaster drills. This book is good for 10 years!

Some other helpful sites I’ve found are:

Ready.gov

FEMA: Are You Ready?

Provident Living: Emergency Preparedness and Response (do not necessarily endorse the beliefs/values of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but they do have some resources that at least be of interest to you)

So start doing some research of your own and determine what it is that suits YOUR family best! If nothing else, just start thinking about your “plan”- what you’ll do with your family should one of these emergencies arise! HOPEFULLY you’ll never need any of this! But if something ever did happen- you’ll be glad if you’re prepared!

Happy planning!