natural self-reliance

    It is impossible to predict when we will be faced with an evacuation emergency. There is however some things we can make part of our everyday lives to make an unpredictable event more manageable when it raises it's ugly head and starts to breath fire. A few of the emergency's are Wildfire, Earthquake, Flood, Home fire and Hurricanes, most will dictate relocating for a least a short while.  More on descriptions of natural disasters here.

    Living in a large City presents it's own unique challenges, this is written as if a person just left the home to walk to a market two blocks away when en-route an incident occurs. I will write today about the things we can be pre-planning as the basic tenets of our evacuation. Here are six things we can do:

Happiness is being prepared.

    1: Buy a water tight fire proof safe for important documents. In it should be Passports, Birth Certificates, Cash Money, Insurance Documents, and any papers or documents that are not available to be reproduced anywhere. Once the documents are in the safe you will not have to worry about them again.
   

This may be a bit over sized for our use. 

2: Make a plan, make several plans, one for different circumstances. For instance if you are walking to the market a few blocks away, your spouse is working and you have a child in school, you are all separated. Make sure you have a way to communicate that you are alright. One very good way is to have an out of the area relative as a contact, everyone calls this person to relay the message that you are OK. Most likely the local cell phone frequencies will be completely jammed up, but numbers out of the area will be open.
     3: Before you leave the house, put your dog in the yard, be certain your cat has a way out, install a doggy door or another safe pet door. I have a neighbor that was moving into a house that they had just had remodeled. On the first day of their move in they decided to go to lunch, they locked the place up with their pet dogs inside. While they were gone the Utility Company turned the electric service on and after checking it out they left. The house burned to the ground in about 15 minutes after the workers left, both dogs were lost in the fire. It definitely can and does happen.
    4: In your purse or messenger bag have these three things- First: a small flashlight, if you are gone past dark or you have to enter your house when it is dark. Second: a small pocket knife or a leather-man type tool, it should have a Phillips and regular blade screwdriver, tweezers, small scissors and a cutting blade. Third: water, when you leave the house have at least two pints of water. These seem like very small things, but they will be the most valuable things you have in an emergency.
    5: Wear clothing appropriate for the weather and take a look at the forecast, a light sweater or jacket is not a heavy load. Dressing as if you are a refugee is not reasonable, and carrying a complete set of clothing isn't either. Just in case bring a jacket, normal for a lot of people.

A little bit of planning and everything will be OK!

    6: Practice your plan, everyone in the family needs to understand where to meet, how to communicate and what to expect from each other. The more children practice according to your plan the more second nature it will become. Be sure to have a meeting place, go to it while going over your planning. The gathering spot could be a park or a parking lot, any place away from buildings that may collapse or catch fire. Make sure each person has a copy of the plan with all telephone numbers and addresses on it, the meeting place and other important information. The plan may prove to have flaws, regardless it will still work, just having a pre plan ready will reduce stress.
    There is really no reason to be all consumed by the idea something is going to happen, things happen every day. The idea is to incorporate a few behaviors into your normal day to day activity's that in the rare chance something were to happen you were prepared. It's important, so sit down and write a plan out, get input from everyone in the house, practice the plan, keep a few things in your pocket or messenger bag and have some water with you. Keep the disaster plan in your wallet or purse always. Most likely nothing will happen, but it never hurts to be prepared.
   Thanks for reading my blog, I welcome comments, suggestions and stories. Please comment.

jimandkate   emergencykitsplus.com   must have survival gear