Author Archive for Lori

Emergency Checklist: Building Your Preparedness Plan

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Before we had an emergency checklist for our family, my husband and I were discussing how you can save worry, money and maybe your life by preparing for emergencies before they happen. We talked about the most likely challenging situations we would encounter and what our plan of attack should be.

Emergency ChecklistThen we agreed to each write a ‘to-do’ list of the most important things.  Later in the day, I looked over his list and burst out laughing. It was titled “Emergency Chicklist” and, sure enough, nearly every item had my name beside it. It really was a “chicklist”. In retaliation, I left him a copy of my “Emergency Hecklist” (as in “Heck, do you really want me to do that?”) On my list, nearly every item had his name beside it.

Eventually we hammered out a solid plan that looked something like this: Read More→

Emergency Food Rations

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Hurricane damage to mobile home in Davie FloridaAfter our home was destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago, we lived for a month in a tent at the home of wonderful friends whose house remained standing.

We quickly learned that without enough emergency food rations, we were inadequately prepared for the disaster. A few days later our food was nearly gone and we had to scramble to buy whatever was still on the shelves in the grocery stores.

Fortunately, our friends were better prepared. By pooling our resources, we were able to feed our combined families until things became somewhat normal. The experience taught us that a 3 day supply of food will likely not be enough for any true emergency. It’s a great starting point, but you should keep adding until you could support your family (and others who may need help) for much longer.

As I was assembling food for our new 72 hour kit (see my recent post) I was reminded of some of of the things you need to consider when assembling emergency food rations. Read More→

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Preparing Your 72 Hour Emergency Kit

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

It’s pretty well official – the universe is trying to get my attention. I need to start preparing my 72 Hour Emergency Kit

First clue is the nagging feeling I’ve had for the last week or two that we need to get our emergency food stores and emergency kits out of the storage unit where they’ve languished for the last year, waiting for us to find a permanent residence. We’re no closer to that dream now than when we waved goodbye to our little island home. If the storage unit were just down the block it might not be such an issue, but it’s a ferry ride away on a different island. Probably not too accessible in a disaster.lower qualicum falls

Next, my husband handed me an article stating that the major earthquake predicted for this area is likely to strike 50 years earlier than prophesied – in other words, RIGHT AWAY.

Lastly, I just got asked to write this blog on the importance of 72 hour kits. So guess who’s going out to purchase a new rolling garbage can this morning. That’ll make a better container for our kit than the backpacks we had previously, though we’ll still keep them for our car kits.

You don’t have to be living in a major disaster area to need to prepare for emergencies. And although a 72 hour kit won’t save you from all the ill-effects of a major emergency, it’ll help keep you alive to fight another day. Your 72-hour emergency kit needs to include everything your group will need to stay alive for at least 3 days, after which time, the hope is that official rescue will arrive.

Read More→