Preparing for Disaster

Not a topic most people want to talk about, let alone create actual plans. Despite the frequency of events such as earthquakes, floods, fires, tornadoes, blizzards, and hurricanes most people do have any kind of plan in place to deal with the aftermath. Nor, in many cases, has any preparation been made to prevent or mitigate the hardships that can accompany such events.

My own experience is probably not too unlike most of those who read this article. I *know* I should have things in place "just in case", but the truth is, beyond some basic and cursory preparation, my family does not have a real plan in place.

Now, in the past, this was not always the case. Growing up in rural New Jersey, there wasn't much in the way of natural events for which we needed to be concerned. The worst we had to deal with was the occasional weak hurricane - being almost 30 miles inland, we hardly ever saw much wind. However, the few times we did see some significant wind, it blew down trees - very big trees - and in at least one case took out a house on the road in which we lived.

Now, you can't really prepare for a tree falling on your house, aside from just not having big trees nearby. But, you can plan to deal with the hardships and annoyances that could result from such an event, like not having power, or not being able to use the water. So basic preparation is a good idea, if just to deal with the event that "life" throws at us.

So, in preparing to write this article, I decided to make it as simple, but as comprehensive, as possible. I've looked at many sites on the web, including those published by the government and its various agencies, and I have attempted to create a checklist that anyone can easily utilize. There are basics that apply to all potential disasters, so those are the critical items. There are special considerations that need to be included as well depending on the health and circumstances of the people doing the planning, so I have included those in a separate section. Finally, while most of what is contained here pertains to "family" and "home", one also needs to consider business and job circumstances.

REALITY

You cannot "prevent" a natural disaster. The best you can do is to plan ahead as best as you can to be able to recover from one quickly with as little pain as possible. Since disasters wreak havoc with health, shelter, vehicles, food, and just about every aspect of what is required for survival, you must have a comprehensive plan that takes into account all of these elements.

FOOD & WATER

The basic essential of survival, you need to be able to access food and water. When I was growing up, my mom always kept a tea kettle full of water in the cupboard, just in case. We lived in a rural part of NJ, and we had quite a few power outages. I remember filling up buckets with whatever was still in the pipes in case we needed to use the bathroom. These days, it is easy enough to buy a few 3 gallon bottles of water and just store them someplace relatively safe. In most houses, this would be the basement, which would be the best place to go in some circumstances (hurricane, tornado), but no so good in an earthquake or fire. If you have an outdoor shed, that might be a good place to keep a bottle or two.

Food had to be in the form of something with a long shelf life. We have boxes of snack bars that we can grab in a hurry if need to run out the door. We have a lot of canned goods in case is it the type of situation where you can stay in your house. We also have some water and snacks in the car as well.

CLOTHING

We used to live in Southern California, where even on a cold night you can get away with whatever you happen to be wearing (most of the time, anyway.) Up here in Vermont, however, we are going to have to do some re-thinking. Even a few minutes in sub-zero weather with no protection can be life threatening, so this is an area of planning that needs to be refined. At this point, we have two main exits from our house, and so we all have some warm jackets and other clothing located near each doorway. If we need to exit from the 2nd floor in case of a fire, we have other clothes we can grab there as well and toss out the window onto the ground below. And in the car we have blankets and other items that can help as well.

ESCAPE

I think when most people think of planning for an emergency, they think of an escape plan. The problem is that, you need to have a plan of escape from every possible room in the house. Our house has 10 rooms, 3 garages, and a basement. That is a lot of planning!

Fortunately, there are also ample routes, once you factor in the windows. However, you need to keep in mind that some windows are not so easy to break, so if they are part of your escape plan, you also need to include having hammers or some other item that will help to break the window.

The main challenge with escape is probably the upper floor. Fortunately, we have a hallway window that opens right above the porch which has a metal roof. You open (or break) the window, step out, and slide down. It is still a bit of a drop, and if time permits we'd use the emergency rope ladder in the bedroom, but it is a good secondary alternative.

BE CREATIVE

The best thing you can do to prepare for an emergency is just to talk about it and give it some thought BEFORE you need to take action. If you panic, if your adrenaline is rushing, you won't be able to think clearly. If you already have thought about it, your subconscious will jump in to help. And those few seconds can mean the difference between a close call and a disaster.