Be Ready for any Emergency Situation

If you have ever watched the news after a natural disaster (who hasn’t), you probably realize the destruction can be fairly widespread and significant. The federal government knows that in the midst of chaos, sometimes they are unable to reach people quickly.

When I worked at United States Northern Command, we were tasked with providing defense support to civilian agencies (DSCA), which meant we helped mobilize military response efforts to support local and federal emergency agencies in times of disasters. While I was there we responded to hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.

The challenge with these efforts is they are complex and SLOW. Often after a storm or disaster there is extensive damage to roads, power lines, and other critical infrastructure, which slows down all emergency response efforts. There are often a lot of agencies trying to help, which can make things even more complex.

Despite best efforts, it’s important to remember that you and your family may have to wait days (or longer) for help from relief agencies or emergency personnel if a disaster strikes in your area. We can’t assume that someone will always be there to help us.

What Goes in an Emergency Kit?

Emergency kits are a great place to start your prepping journey. They are foundational and relatively easy to put together. I have emergency kits in my cars, at home, and a small one at work that would help in some situations.

This is one of the foundational steps you can accomplish to be more prepared for emergencies, particularly natural disasters and power outages.

FEMA has a great checklist that provides and overview of what the government recommends storing. We’ll break it down a little bit here:

Basic Disaster Supplies Kit

A basic emergency supply kit could include the following recommended items:

• Water (one gallon per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation) - I’d recommend 2 to 3 gallons per person/per day. A gallon will only cover drinking and cooking, and in a stressful situation after an emergency with potentially limited ability to control the temperature you may find yourself drinking more.

• Food (at least a several-day supply of non-perishable food) - remember to pick foods your family already eats. A disaster situation is not the time to find out that someone has a food allergy or just unwilling to eat canned SPAM (I have no idea how I liked that in casseroles as a kid)

• First aid kit - Make sure your kit has extra bandages and gauze, and that you have the training for anything you add to it. A small boo boo kit is probably too small for this type of emergency situation. According to the World Health Organization the most common injuries during natural disasters are lacerations, blunt force trauma (hello ice packs), and fractures. Make sure your kit has things to treat those types of emergencies.

• NOAA Emergency Weather Radio (hand crank!) - This allows you to keep up with storm warning and charge small electronics. Make sure you store extra batteries and have the ability to crank by hand if needed.

• Flashlight & Extra batteries - I’d also recommend keeping a few headlamps. This allows you to keep your hands free and have light.

• Whistle (to signal for help) - It’s probably a good idea to get one for each member of your family. IF you think things might get really tough, go ahead and put these whistles on. Most have lanyards and can be worn. If you need to signal emergency help these could be lifesaving.

• Dust mask (to help filter contaminated air) - I’d recommend storing N-95 masks, they can be used for standard filtration and in a pandemic type of situation.

• Plastic sheeting and duct tape (to shelter in place) - We keep plastic sheeting and tarps at our house. You may also want to keep some 550 cord/paracord to help hold tarps and sheeting in place. We have quite a stock of inexpensive tarps from Harbor Freight, but we’ve also invested in some heavy duty sheeting from Lowes. Make sure you have a mix. The goal here is to stay dry and out of the elements.

• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties (for personal sanitation) - Okay no one loves talking about this part, but in an emergency you could run into a situation where you can’t flush your toilet. We keep a camp bucket toliet & bags for just such emergencies. I’d also add personal wipes to stay clean if running water is an issue.

• Wrench or pliers (to turn off utilities) - Make sure you know how to turn off water and gas coming into your house. There are entire videos on how to do this safely. Just make sure you have the right tools, know where the shutoff valves are, and know how to close them.

• Manual can opener (for food) - Canned food items won’t help you at all in a power outage situation if all you have in your house is electric can openers.

• Local maps - Let’s face it, most of us navigate our towns with GPS turned on. Even if you know your way around, a local map can help if there has been road damage or blocked access on your normal routes.

• Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery - I keep a small solar charger for my cell phone. Between that and the hand-crank radio you should be able to keep your phone charged. Just remember in an emergency situation you’ll have much more luck texting than calling, since phone lines get blocked early.

My Recommended Emergency Supplies

Additional Emergency Supplies

The list above is the bare minimum, but you might also want to consider the following supplies for your family.

• Soap, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes to disinfect surfaces and keep everything safe

• Prescription Medication - About half of all Americans take a prescription medicine every day. An emergency can make it difficult for them to refill their prescription or to find an open pharmacy. Organize and protect your prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, and vitamins to prepare for an emergency.

• Non-prescription medications such as pain relievers, anti-diarrhea medication, antacids or laxatives

• Prescription eyeglasses and contact lens solution

• Cash or traveler's checks - I’d recommend cash. Store a variety of denominations for emergencies and maybe a few rolls of quarters in case you have to evacuate your house and do laundry at a laundry mat.

• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records saved electronically or in a waterproof, portable container - if you haven’t made an Emergency Binder, now’s the time. (See this post for more information)

• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person - remember that most synthetic fibers loose their ability to keep you warm if they get wet. Have a plan to keep your blankets dry in an emergency.

• Complete change of clothing appropriate for your climate and sturdy shoes - let me just highlight the shoe part here! Running shoes or tennis shoes are great for walking long-distances, but in an emergency situation you want something sturdy…think leather boots (hiking or work boots). If there is debris and broken glass your running shoes are not going to keep your feet safe.

• Fire extinguisher - I’d also add fire blankets to this list.

• Matches in a waterproof container - Okay this one I’m going to chime in on…I’m always seeing matches on lists…yes they are useful, but so are BIC lighters. Consider having some matches, but also stock up on a few lighters…SO MUCH EASIER.

• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items

• Mess kits, paper cups, plates, paper towels and plastic utensils - keep stuff you can dispose of easily. In a disaster the trash guy isn’t going to be showing up every week. We keep heavy duty paper plates that we can burn if needed.

• Paper and pencil - and a few heavy duty sharpies. This allows you to leave notes for emergency workers, family, and friends. It’s also a place to keep score for the games you are going to store!

• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children (and adults!) - don’t discount the power of entertainment and “escape” in emergency situations.

• Infant supplies - formula, bottles, diapers, wipes and diaper rash cream

• Pet food and extra water for your pet - I have an emergency pet kit with all of my dog’s supplies

I think it’s important to realize that this emergency kit list is what the government recommends we store. This is a great starting point for most of us and the absolute minimum we should have in our houses.

Storing Your Emergency Supplies

Storing all of this in a large plastic bin is a great solution. It allows us to keep things in one place and gives us an easy grab and go emergency bin if we need to leave our house. Store the bin somewhere in your house that’s easy to access, and make sure everyone in your house knows where it is.

In an emergency situation the last thing we want is the stress of tracking down our emergency whistles! Keep your bin together.

Please don’t put this off…build your kit.

I’d love to hear what else you’d add to this list, just drop a comment below.