[jebartle]

TSupply of Drinking Water


•A minimum of one gallon of water per person per day.

•Buy bottled water or store tap water in washed plastic, fiberglass or enamel-lined metal containers. Sanitize containers with a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water before using.

•If your tap water is commercially treated, you can use it as-is. For well water or untreated public water, follow treatment instructions provided by your public health service.

•Seal the water containers tightly and label them with the date. Store in a cool, dark place. Refresh your water supply every six months.

•If you're on a private well in an area prone to electrical outages, you might want to store larger amounts of water to flush stools and for general cleanup. The bakery departments of grocery stores receive pre-made frosting in covered buckets and will often give you those buckets free. Cat litter and other products come in suitable 2-3 gallon covered buckets. Look around to see what you can find.
Choosing Food Supplies
Use a permanent marker to date foods and replace items every six months. Pack foods in watertight bags or sturdy plastic containers.


•Canned foods are a good choice. Buy ready-to-eat meats, fruits, and vegetables.

•Buy canned or boxed juices, milk, soup, and powdered milk.

•Peanut butter is a good source of protein.

•Crackers, granola bars, cereals, trail mix.

•Instant coffee and tea.

•Sugar, salt, pepper, other spices.

•Don't forget a manual can opener!
Your First Aid Supplies


•First aid manual, scissors, sterile bandages, gauze pads, cotton balls, safety pins, latex gloves.

•Antibiotic ointment, cleansing agents such as isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, germicidal soaps, moistened towelettes.

•Needles, tweezers, scissors, thermometer.

•Aspirin, anti-diarrhea medication, antacids, syrup of ipecac (to induce vomiting), vitamins.

•Ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice if you wish to store your regular prescription medications.
Essential Tools and Emergency Supplies


•Battery-powered radio or television and extra batteries, a NOAA weather radio.

•Flashlight and extra batteries

•Matches in a waterproof container.

•Shutoff wrench, pliers, shovel and other tools.

•Duct tape, scissors, plastic sheeting.

•Fire extinguisher.

•Paper, pens, pencils.

•Needles and thread.

•Paper plates, plastic cups and utensils. Plastic trash bags.

•Hand sanitizer, liquid detergent, towelettes, soap. Toilet paper, paper towels.

•Chlorine bleach and other disinfectant cleaners.

•Household documents, contact numbers.

•Copies of important documents. Cash or traveler's checks.
Other Items


•Blankets, bedding, sleeping bags.

•Comfortable clothes and shoes.

•Supplies for babies and the elderly.

•Supplies for your pets.

•Things to do: books, games, toys.
At Work and In Your Car


•Keep an emergency backpack at the office in case you can't get home right away.

•Store a supply of food and water in your car. Include jumper cables, flares, ice melt and other seasonal items.

•Keep your gas tank filled.
That covers the basics. FEMA, the American Red Cross and other government agencies can offer you much more advice to help you prepare for any type of disaster.
hought it was time to check this list:

[Sparky-30]

Great post! We so often take things for granted, but we should always be prepared.

[memason]

When we lived in Japan, we had such a survival kit, just in case. Thank God, we never needed it, although we got lots of quakes, in the 4 years we lived there.

Now that we are living in hurricane country, we are wondering if we need a survival kit for the possibility of a large, destructive hurricane. While tornadoes are very destructive, they tend to be more isolated than a hurricane.

What' the consensus of folks, who are here full-time ?? Do you have a hurricane kit and what are the essentials?

[Midge538]

The Crystal River FL nuclear plant (commissioned in 1977) is 40 miles from TV new Brownwood section.

[graciegirl]

Don't forget your beads. My grandmother said that anyway.

None of those things in the above list could have helped those poor people swept away in Japan last week.

I wonder if having them all in a box in the garage all together is any better than just having all of them.

[logdog]

Originally Posted by memason

What' the consensus of folks, who are here full-time ?? Do you have a hurricane kit and what are the essentials?

We had a hurricane kit when we lived in the Florida Panhandle. Unfortunately, we to use it on several occasions (which is why we no longer live there). Here I don't think it's necessary to have one. We're far enough inland that, at most, we might get some tropical storm force winds as a result of a major hurricane hitting the coast somewhere near us. Recovery would be pretty rapid. We do kept lots of flashlights and batteries handy in case of power outages. We are in the lightning capital.

[Fourpar]

I agree with logdog. When we lived in Destin (Panhandle) we kept a disaster pack, but mostly left town (too many times) before having to use it. We got tired of running from hurricanes and moved here.
We no longer worry about it...a couple of flashlights, and a big bottle of wine comprise our kit now.

[JohnN]

toss in a bottle of whiskey

[taylor111947]

When it comes to important papers I have a suggestion that you might want to consider..

Scan all your important papers into one or more .pdf files - passport, credit card information (including phone numbers), banking information, will, drivers license, access information to important websites, insurance information, medical information (including medications) - I'm sure you get the idea.

You can email the file(s) to yourself and/or perhaps to a trusted relative/friend and/or copy them to a flash drive so you can access them if you need. If you are concerned about security you can password protect the file.

[K9-Lovers]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

Don't forget your beads. My grandmother said that anyway.

None of those things in the above list could have helped those poor people swept away in Japan last week.

I wonder if having them all in a box in the garage all together is any better than just having all of them.

Put together a kit, and keep it in your "Safe Room" in case of a tornado, or tsunai wave that kicks out the nearby nuclear plant.

My thinking is, better safe than sorry.