Natural Disaster: Are You Ready?

There is no way to be one-hundred percent prepared for every possible scenario. Trying to think of, and ready your family for, everything will drive you mad. That does not mean that you shouldn't do everything in your power.

I live in a comfortable home in a very nice neighborhood. I do not live here alone. My sister's family, which consists of seven children and a spouse, live with me. When preparing my disaster supplies I have to consider their family as well as my own. I do my best to make sure that I have six months of dry food at any given time. We also have approximately fifty, five gallon storage containers of water. When you store water like this you have to put bleach or chlorine in it to keep bacteria from growing. This summer we will be working on putting in an eight thousand gallon water tank. I have several plastic containers filled with necessities such as: toothbrushes, toothpaste, diapers, feminine hygiene products, pain relievers, first aid kits, etc. It is also a good idea to keep some treats in your storage. I know that this may seem trivial, considering that you are preparing for a life altering event, but consider that everything that your family knows will be ripped away and they may need the comfort. I like to keep some canned frosting around. I know it's not great for you, but it will last forever. Anyone that has children will know how much easier this will make life for everyone.

One area in which I am seriously lacking is having portable supplies. I am sad to say that we are in no way prepared to leave our home. This is an area in which I have trouble, because of the large number of people in my home. In September of last year we were forced out of our home by a wildfire. While this may not be a natural disaster, it was a wakeup call. We had our savings safely in the bank, all our videos and pictures in the backseat of the minivan, and wonderful family to take us in. Lying in my nieces bed, my children sleeping on the floor, and wearing borrowed pj's I couldn't help but think that we were not prepared for a situation that displaced us on an enormous scale.