Tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters can cause injury and severe destruction within seconds.
So, how can you protect yourself and prepare for the upcoming event? Well, this posts details the steps you should take so that you can act swiftly at the time when every second is important.
In This Article You Will Learn...
How To Prepare For Disasters
Perhaps the best ways to be prepared for a disaster is to have a survival kit packed and ready to go. Sadly, there is no accurate way to predict the exact time when a natural disaster will strike. However, you can prepare in advance so that you don’t have to panic at the last minute.
You can find a wide variety of emergency survival bags in the market. In addition, there are convenient ‘disaster backpacks” that can make your life easier. However, the question is what should your survival disaster kit contain?
How You Should Prepare For Hurricanes
The American Red Cross and the National Hurricane center have put together specific guidelines for the ideal hurricane supply kit. A hurricane survival kit is the advanced version of the commonly available disaster supply kit.
People who live along the coastline need to pay special attention to hurricane survival kit. Remember, the worst thing you can do is not prepare for tropical storms and hurricanes. In addition to putting together a survival kit, you should understand the emergency evacuation plans provided by the local government.
When it comes to buying hurricane supplies, don’t wait until the natural disaster is at your doorstep! Yes, if you delay buying the important things you need, you can end up waiting in long lines. What’s worse is that the stuff you need can get out of stock.
Now coming back to how you should put together a survival kit. The kit should include the supplies you will need immediately as well as things you will need later. The disaster survival kit should be stored in an easy to access place so that you can quickly grab it and take it along to the evacuation shelter.
Another important thing to remember is that you should make copies of home, car ownerships and insurance and keep them in the hurricane kit.
Aside from keeping a physical backup of important personal information, you should store data from your phones, computer, and other mobile devices in the cloud so that the data can be recovered if something were to happen to your device.
To prepare for the unknown, your home should have a 72-hour disaster survival kit. This kit will include some essential items to help you survive. Remember, you should include at least a 3 day supply for each person and don’t forget your pets. The following list should give you a clear idea of what needs to be included in the survival kit.
Drinking Water
Purchase bottled water that has been sealed according to FDA guidelines for food. The water you store should not be vulnerable to temperature changes. Yes, even though it sounds strange, water can go bad.
Ideally a normally active person needs one gallon of water per day. Never use containers that are likely to decompose or break to store water. Add more drinking water for mixing milk formula or food if you have children. You need to save water for your pets too.
Food preparation and sanitation will require additional two quarts water per day.
Water For Sanitation
Store water in large containers to be used for cleaning, and bathing.
You can buy water purification tablets if you are instructed to boil water before using it. These tablets allow you to purify water in bathtubs and other containers without buying expensive water purification document.
Hurricane Food Supply List
Generally you should maintain at least 3 to 7 days of food supply for each member of your family. It is always better to store foods that do not require cooking or refrigeration. For example, you can store dried fruits, coffee, ready to eat canned meats, fruits and vegetables.
Canned milk, soups and other high-energy foods such as granola bars and crackers should be included in your list. Buy raw veggies and fruits that do not need refrigeration.
If you have kids, don’t forget to stock comfort foods such as sweetened cereals, cookies and candy. The beverages you should stock include tea bags and instant coffee.
In addition, you need to have paper cups, plates and other plastic utensils for serving food.
Baby Needs
Infants have special needs so you need to stock baby food and milk formula that would last for several days. Not to forget, you should keep the medicines handy along with extra diapers and blankets to keep the kids warm.
Kids can get fussy during the time so make sure you have enough baby wipes, feeding bottles and pacifier to keep your baby calm.
Hygiene And Sanitation
Personal hygiene items that should be added to the survival kit include hand sanitizer, baby wipes, soap, toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo. Ladies need to keep feminine supplies (tampons) handy along with plastic bags.
You can store the items in a plastic bucket with a tight lit. Not to forget, you can store plenty of towelettes and adsorbent towels to make your life easier.
First Aid Kit
You need to assemble a first aid kit with the following supplies.
If you are using any prescription medication, make sure you have enough supply that would last for at least 30 days.
Other things you can include in your first aid kit include additional eyeglasses, contact lenses, denture and hearing aids along with spare batteries.
Clothing And Bedding Needs
It’s recommended that you can include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear for every member of your family. Make sure you have sturdy shoes along with long pants, a long sleeve shirt and a jacket.
You also need to have a blanket and sleeping bag for each person.
Other things you can keep handy include hats, pillows, gloves, protective headwear and sunglasses.
Recommended Miscellaneous Supplies To Include In A Basic Hurricane Kit
Additional Guidelines If You Are Not Evacuating During Hurricane
If you will be staying home during the hurricane, make sure:
Remember, a disaster kit is a collection of basic items you may need in the event of an emergency. You need to have a kit ready in case you need to evacuate on a short notice. It’s best to assume that the roads to the shelter area will be inaccessible by public transport.
Because shelter homes do not have sufficient supplies, you might need to use a survival kit to survive on your own after an emergency. This means having your own food, water and other essentials to last for at least 3 days.
Remember, rescue officials will be working on the scene, but it may take several hours, or even days to reach you. Basic utilities and services may be unavailable for days, so your kit should contain items that’ll help you manage a nasty situation during the outages.
Putting Together Disaster Supply Kits For Your Pets
Keep a survival kit handy for your pet and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is. The pet emergency kit you put together should be clearly labeled and easy to carry. Items you can consider adding to the kit include:
What Do You Need In Your Disaster Kit For A Tornado?
About 1,200 tornadoes hit the United States every year and they can strike in any season. Most tornadoes occur in the spring and summer months.
Sadly the extent of destruction and injury caused by tornadoes will depend on the size and intensity of the tornado. Winds resulting from tornadoes can hit almost 200 miles per hour and the injuries can be minor, serious and at times, life threatening.
Because tornadoes can disrupt transport, communication and cause structural damage, it is important to put together a tornado emergency kit.
Your primary goal before a tornado hits should be to go to the safest possible place for protection and take additional measures for personal protection. The best building for protection during a tornado is a structure built according to the International Code Council 500 storm shelter standards.
Generally you should pay attention to weather reports and even subscribe to text alerts and apps that provide weather details. However, you just cannot rely on weather information. You need to use your own judgment and seek personal protection when you know that a dangerous storm is advancing.
Put Together Your Tornado Kit – Take Action Now
Receiving timely weather updates can make all the difference when it comes to taking action. In addition, you should think about you will stay updated if there’s a power outage. This means you can have extra batteries for your radio as well as your phone.
If you are facing a dangerous situation, your first thought will be to ensure the safety of your friends and family. If someone is injured, you should be able to provide first aid before professional help arrives.
You need to first identify the things you will need the most when you leave your home to move to a protective location. Remember, there might be no power, no gas and there could be heavy rain as well. If possible, keep the tornado emergency kit in pre-identified locations of your home or workplace. The larger items can be kept in a durable bag to bring with you.
Consider the following when putting together your emergency food supply.
As stated under hurricane food supply list, canned food, soups, dried fruits and other staples that do not require refrigeration or special storage are a better choice.
Tornado Emergency Food Supply Shopping
You may have many of these items in your pantry and they make excellent emergency food supplies.
How You Can Minimize Food Spoilage during Disasters
Tornadoes can jeopardize the power and gas system so you should know how you can minimize the amount of food that can be lost due to spoilage.
How Do I Store Water?
Water perhaps is one of the most essential elements to survival and you need to include water bottles in your emergency supplies kit. Unfortunately clean drinking water might not be available following a natural disaster.
Even if you have a water source, it could be contaminated so in order to save yourself, you should build a supply of water that will meet the needs of your family during emergency.
How Much Water Should I Store?
Well, you should have at least one gallon of water per person. You need about ¾ of a gallon of clean water daily and this doesn’t include beverages and other liquids. However, water requirements can change depending on your medical condition, diet, health, age and climatic conditions.
Remember that sick people, kids and breastfeeding moms need more water. Similarly, your water intake will increase if you live in a warm climate. You also need to remember that a medical emergency might require additional water.
Purchasing commercial bottled water is the most reliable and more importantly, the safest way to prepare emergency water supply for disaster survival kit. Make sure you do not open the water bottles until you really need to use it. Also, keep an eye on the expiry date.
Some people prefer to buy food grade water storage containers from camping supply stores for emergency water storage. Don’t forget to clean the container thoroughly before storing water and make sure there’s no residual soap.
Never use plastic containers or plastic jugs and cardboard containers that contain milk or fruit juice in them for storing water. Cardboard containers often leak easily and they are not designed to handle long-term storage of liquids.
What Should An Ideal Emergency Survival Bag Contain – The 72 – Hour Kit Checklist
You need to prepare a handy kit for each member of your family. Also consider putting together separate kits for your office as well as one for your car.
Remember that the items in your emergency survival kit should be stored in a water resistant duffel bag. On the other hand, do not overload the bag, as you might have to carry it for long distances to reach the shelter.
How Much Cash Should I Keep?
You should keep enough cash handy so that it lasts for three days. Make sure you have small bills for buying things like canned food or water bottles. After all, you don’t want to pay $100 for a water bottle and get no change.
Conclusion
You cannot avoid being hit by a natural disaster because these things are not in our control. However, you can increase your survival chances by equipping yourself with a personalized disaster survival kit. This post will hopefully help you put together an emergency kit that would work in all situations.
We have also prepared a buying guide for you, where we have analyzed different types of survival kits from which you can choose. Remember, you can stay safe. All you have to do is plan ahead.
