Be Prepared For An Emergency At Home
Be Prepared for an Emergency
Be Prepared for an Emergency
How well are you prepared for an emergency? Severe weather can mean power outages, flooding, fires and sometimes evacuations at a moments notice.
Make your own home emergency kit with this instructional video by About.com. Sarah Pihl shows how to be prepared for when the storms take out the power or worse.
Plan Ahead: Make sure you have a 3 day supply of survival gear for every member of the family, including the pets.
Water is Essential: Guidelines suggest 3 gallons of water for every person. Pihl suggests using smaller containers to keep it fresh, such as individual serving sizes.
Food is a Must: Obviously these should be shelf stable Make sure if you have cans, that you have a handheld can opener too! Also handy would be Ziploc and garbage bags and tin foil. In case of a power outage, you should plan on foods that are fully cooked. Pihl suggests packing high energy foods and maybe a few treats too! Dont forget, a little salt and pepper goes a long way!
First Aid Kit: There are plenty of pre-made ones to choose from that are relatively inexpensive, or you can always make your own.
Medications: Store back-ups of any medications for the family-both over the counter and prescription, vitamins and extra eyeglasses you might need.
Daily Essentials: This category includes soaps, shampoos, toilet paper, towels, dental care, disinfectant wipes, personal hygiene care and anything else you might need.
Other Essentials: Good old cashalways works, especially if businesses have no power- they cant take credit cards and you wont be able to access the ATM either! Lay in a supply of batteries, flashlights, battery operated clock radio, matches, utility knife, basic tools, compass, area map, paper, pencil, needle, thread, household bleach, and a whistle. An extra cell phone and charger and surgical masks might be necessary.
Clothing & Blankets: Make sure everyone has warm clothes, a blanket and waterproof gear for bad weather, all the way down to the shoes.
Important Documents: Store them in an accessible place where everyone can get them at a moments notice. Store them in a waterproof bag. These would include insurance papers, deed to your home, birth certificates, passports and a copy of your credit cards and licenses. A list of medications and medical information
Storage: Where to put all this stuff? Pihl suggests using a Tupperware container under your bed, if storage is at a premium.
The Red Cross suggests storing the essentials in easy to carry back packs for each person. Pack extra leashes and food for the pets too. The Red Cross also offers a great list of essentials on their website.
Last but not Least: Pihl suggests typing up a list of all the contents and their expiration dates. She keeps this list with the emergency kit but also notes on the calendar when to check it before they expire, so she can replace the items as needed.
Hopefully this will be a lot of work for something you might not needbut the point is, when you need it, you will be grateful for planning ahead.
You can watch the video at About.com.
Go online to Metro Brokers TV for more great articles.
by: Metro Brokers
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