Checklist

Emergency Preparation Checklist

Prepper Best, Disaster, Lessons January 3, 2013January 9, 2013Checklist, Emergency, Preparation 0 Comment

Emergency Preparation Checklist

Emergencies happen quickly and by their very nature, they happen without warning Therefore, you have to be prepared at all times. Having an emergency preparation checklist can help you evaluate your status at a moment’s notice. It is important that every member of your family or group have access to the list.

The Plan

Your home is typically, where you will do most of your planning. However, the checklist should also include plans for what to do if a family member is at work or school.

1. You will need to have alternative routes to and from the workplace and schools in the event the roads, bridges or highways are damaged

2. You should have in your vehicle an extra cell phone battery, flashlight, a phone charger, important phone numbers to include contact information for school officials, walking shoes and clothes appropriate for the season.

Your Home

• An evacuation plan is important. You must have an area where everyone gathers in the home during an emergency

• Know what exits to use and include windows. If you have a multi-story home, have emergency ladders in each bedroom for emergency evacuation out an upper story window. You must have drills so everyone has a chance to use the ladders.

• Know how to shut off the main gas line at the meter, keep a tool and flashlight by the back door so you can find the meter in the dark and can shut the line off. You can keep tools and a light in the meter box if so equipped but most meters are exposed to the elements. Also, have a flashlight by the main electrical breaker.

• Check off the hot water tank when you have strapped it to the wall it so it will not topple over causing flooding

• Know how to find the emergency evacuation routes out of your area and know where all emergency shelters are located

• Make sure you have adequate emergency supplies of food, water and first aid kits.

• Have your emergency supplies packed so they can be easily carried in the event you have to evacuate

• Have important documents in one place and protected from water and other damage and make sure they can be gathered and carried with you

• Have a staging area outside of the home if it becomes damaged

• Make sure you have ample propane if you have an outdoor grill this may be your only means of cooking

• If possible, store emergency supplies in various locations such as a secure shed away from the home or in a detached garage in the event your home is damaged. This protects some of your emergency provisions. Make a point to gather large water storage containers such as 50-gallon food grade plastic barrels. Redundancy is the best back up plan so if one cache of supplies is damaged you must have another close by, and the same theory applies to staging areas and emergency exits always have an alternative.

• Make sure you vehicle is always ready to go

The checklist list is not comprehensive so you have to make adjustments for specific disasters such as earthquakes, so check off that no bedrooms have wall-mounted televisions, or have wardrobes or bureaus that can topple onto a sleeping person. Make sure your safe room does not have skylights, outside walls or brick fireplaces.

Outside your home trim or remove trees or branches that can fall and damage your home. If you have a privacy or security fence around your home and it has a locking gate make sure all family members know where the key is because if members have to evacuate out of an upper story window you do not want them trapped in the backyard.

Maxpedition Falcon-II Backpack

Emergency Shelter Tent

Emergency Blankets

MTM Survivor Dry Box

Coleman Stove

Coleman Heater

Emergency Drinking Water

Water Purification Tablets

Fresh Bath Body Wipes

Fenix Flashlight

Dust Masks

Champion Power Generator

Preparedness the First Steps

Prepper Best, Disaster December 28, 2012December 28, 2012Checklist, Emergency, Preparation 0 Comment

Preparedness the First Steps

Much of the focus throughout this year (2012) has been on the so-called doomsday preppers, and there is even a show dedicated to preppers. Preppers are individuals that take preparedness to a new level and many dedicate their entire time and financial resources to getting prepared. You may watch these shows and wonder what you should prepare for because most if not all preppers have a specific scenario in mind thus, they prepare based on that. Therefore, some of you may be overwhelmed because literally anything can happen, so how do you prepare for all possibilities.

First, you must realize that regardless of the disaster you will always need the essentials to maintain life. Shelter, water, fire/energy, nourishment and medical care are essentials you will always need. However, certain situations will require specialized clothing and equipment to survive such as a nuclear detonation or the release of chemical and biological contaminates into the community. Preparations for nuclear, chemical and biological attack are the next level after you have gathered the essentials for survival. Presumably, the crisis will disrupt your utilities, such as electricity, water and gas for cooking and heating. This is where you begin; you must prepare to live without modern conveniences.

Start With the Basics and Work Up From There

How do you decide how much? The amount of supplies and materials depends on what you are preparing for. Do you simply want to be ready for power disruptions during a natural disaster or do you believe in a doomsday scenario. Some believe they will have to survive on their own for years if not for their entire life if certain scenarios play out, and others feel it may be only a few years before communities and government are operating again.

As history has shown us natural, disasters can be devastating and are made even more so when people and communities are not prepared. You can be without utilities for several weeks while living in a home that is damaged or even living in a tent in the front yard. This is the effects of any disaster whether it is manmade or natural. If you survive the crisis itself, you must then survive the effects. As stated before, emergency supplies and materials are not necessarily disaster specific, and without the basics, you will not survive to have to worry about nuclear, chemical or biological attacks.

You will need at least two weeks of food and water if planning for natural disasters. Typically, experts and community leaders recommended a 72-hour supply, but that recommendation is outdated. As you prepare remember you will have to perform all tasks without the benefit of electricity.

For those that believe in the doomsdays theories you will need enough provisions to get you through at least the first two years. You will need to develop a reliable food source such as gardens and raising livestock. It will take several years to begin producing enough to preserve so you will need enough food and water as you begin preparing for long-term survival. You must not have the worry of providing for your family while you work on alternative sources for survival.

Emergency Preparation Checklist

Emergency Preparation Checklist