Emergency Preparedness

Form a "family" with neighbors, a community church, or group of which you are a part. Make a plan for how to help each other live during/through a crisis. 

I don't think any of us is going to be able to tough it out alone, without a community and a plan.

We live in Asheville, NC, which was devastated by Helene back in September, and after a lengthy time without cell service, power, and water, we upped our emergency preparedness game.

WATER is life. If there is any chance of losing water service, you want to stock up on potable water. Containers by AQUA-TAINER work really well. We did not have potable water for well over a month and had to fill up at stations provided by World Central Kitchen. 

You also need water to flush your toilet. We suspected that might happen for a few days, so before the storm came we set empty storage bins out in the yard to catch rain, and we were able to use that for flushing.

Cooking food and cleaning up were very hard without power and water. Now we have a good camp stove, and we would get paper plates, bowls, utensils, paper towels etc. so we don't need to use precious water on as many dishes. I normally do not use these things, but without clean running water they were a lifesaver. Bleach is good to have on hand when you need to disinfect without much water or your water quality is compromised.

LIGHT--you need a decent light source when the power is out. We had a solar light that was great but only lasted 1.5 hours. Have an emergency stash of batteries for lights, or extra solar lights. Candles are nice, but not as easy to see with.

CRANK RADIO--without cell or internet, the only way we knew what was happening (before neighbors started networking) was a little hand crank radio. It was a lifesaver and while annoying to keep cranking, it was nice to not rely on solar (too cloudy for a good charge) or precious batteries.

FILL YOUR GAS TANK ahead of a storm. Having 3/4 a tank of gas allowed us to get out of town to evacuate. Gas stations were cleaned out within a day after the storm, and it took days before roads into town were passable to allow trucks to refill the stations. There were abandoned cars that ran out of gas all over. 

BATTERY BACKUPS--We have 3-4 battery backup units for charging computers, and when we lost power, we switched them off to hold the charge. We were able to recharge our cell phones off the residual charge--helpful when we found one place in walking distance where we could access cell service. These units also protect your computers from power surges (my husband is an IT manager). There may be better quality solar chargers for phones, but ours did not work well at all. 

FOOD--it would be smart to have a stash of nonperishable food. We managed to keep power to one of our freezers for a day (with my husband's EV battery), but we ended up having to throw out everything form the fridge and freezer. Kind breakfast bars were a quick & helpful breakfast. Think of what you can eat with limited cooking and few dishes. 

WASHCLOTHS (we tried wipes but they did not do a good job for bathing. A sponge bath with a washcloth & minimal water is better. 

Those are the main things that come to mind right now. We had family mail us things when we could not get online to order ourselves. Know who you can ask for help!

One more: CASH! When everyone is without power & internet, the only way to pay for things is cash. Have an emergency stash on hand of whatever you can afford. 

@herondreams what kind of crank radio and camp stove did you buy?

@lowtide The camp stove is a Coleman with 2 burners. We actually should give it a test run soon. We don't go camping, so we don't have those skills. 

I don't know what brand the hand cranked radio is--my husband bought it some years back. It is similar to this one (also red): https://midlandusa.com/products/er310-eready-emergency-crank-weather-radio

I’ve been obtaining battery power stations. They can be charged various ways including via portable solar panels. I think as more places start experiencing brown outs and fires, more will want other sources to keep their essentials running. I’m using the EcoFlow brand

"Prepping" suggestions from Popular Science-- go-bags, emergency car kits and more:

https://www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-make-a-prepper-go-bag/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

@raincloud 

Thanks for the pre lists.

I would like to add an essential item for your car which I did not see listed.

A pair of the athletic shoes.  Why?   if the calamity happens while you are away from home  you may need to get out and walk away from your car.  Especially in an earthquake.  Athletic  are essential to keep your feet safe and to allow you to walk long distances. 

Costs can get expensive for the go bags and home kits.  Consider stocking up at Dollar Tree for some of your supplies like medicines, first aid supplies, paper plates, cups, storage containers, wipes, batteries, flashlights, hand held can opener, personal hygiene, lighter, and many other items.  You can save a lot of money.

A small clay pot and a votive candle can help heat a room if the power goes out in a storm .  really.  There are YouTube videos on this.  A black umbrella can help during the rain and the hot sun.

Hi guys

here is an Australian site for making up an emergency kit if that may be of assistance.

https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/

regards

Matildagirl