72 Hour Kit Challenge, week 7

All right, I'm falling down big time on this stuff and I really need to step it up! Thanks to Nicol for keeping me posting this so that I will stay on top of it. Without her interest, I surely would have given up. In case of emergency right now, we'd have some food, water, and a bag to store it in. Those items are not necessarily together at the present time, and they are currently located in my basement, which may or may not do me any good!

So, if you're not a total slacker like me, week 7 will be fairly simple. It's the next gallon of water per person/pet. Also, it's time to get cracking on your family's emergency plan. I introduced you to a rough outline of one put together by the city we live in as part of a previous post, but I will include some more detailed instructions with this week.

Some of the things you may want to include are the following:

Identifying escape routes from your home
Identifying gathering locations
Identifying community hazards
Learning community evacuation plans
Creating a communication plan
Learning how and when to shut-off household utilities
Insuring against financial loss
Addressing special needs for people and animals
Finding out shelter information
Securing your home against disasters

The most important thing on this list, of course, is the most important thing we can do-- communicate. Creating a communication plan is the first item on the agenda here. Identify an out-of-state contact. In case of a large scale disaster, someone who is away from the situation and able to help you track all members of your family is the best for this situation (because what are the chances everyone will be home?). Phone lines for long distance are less likely to be jammed in the event of emergency, as are phone-company-sponsored pay phones. See if you can track down a couple of those nearby (good luck, there aren't many any more!). Also, make sure you kindly ask this relative or friend if they are willing to help you. Maybe you could inspire them to start a family plan and offer your services in exchange.

Now that you have your contact identified, and in addition to storing their phone number in your phone, write it down and store it in your emergency kit. If you want ideas for what to put on the card, I have some documents from the Red Cross attached to the work email with this info that I can pass on. Contact me at either my own email, which you should have, or the email for this blog, which is posted somewhere to your right. That way, if your cell phone is damaged or (like mine) more likely to run out of steam when you really need it, you still have the phone number. Make sure children who are able to also memorize this number in addition to your own contact information.

The last and final thing for this week is identifying two gathering locations for your family. The first is somewhere very nearby, in the event of a one-home distaster such as a natural gas leak or a fire. It could be a neighbor, it could be the corner of your street. Just so long as everyone knows where it is. The second location is in case of a larger emergency that may require a full-scale neighborhood evacuation. It could be your grocery store, or to use my manager's words, "Grandma's house where she lives 2 miles away." Include this information on the emergency cards stored in your kits, but make sure everyone in your family knows the information as well.

All right, good luck and happy planning. Hopefully I'll get on top of it and have a picture to post next week!