From the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, to the flooding on the Mississippi, to the unbelievable amount of tornadoes already, including one of the largest and most deadly hitting just 2 hours south of us in Joplin, 2011 has been a reminder that disaster can strike anywhere and at any time. Now is the time to prepare! Below is a list of some of the things you can do to prepare for times of disaster:
*Put together a 72 hour kit for your family. You can choose to have one large kit, or an individual kit for each family member. Make sure you have a 3 day supply of water and food, and any other necessary medication and first aid supplies. You may also want to keep a simple kit in your car as well. You can find more information here about disaster kits. FEMA has a comprehensive checklist here. You may also want to include books or activities for children to help them stay calm.
*Have mock emergency drills with your family. Make sure your children know what to do in an emergency. FEMA has a great website for kids here. Practice using your kits. Rotate the food, supplies and clothing according to season. Some do this every six months at General Conference time. Also, it is a good idea to have a family communications plan in case you are separated or not together when a disaster strikes. You can find one at: http://home.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/appendix_c.pdf
*Organize a neighborhood disaster plan. Decide with your neighbors what you will do on your street should a disaster strike. For instance, if you have elderly or disabled neighbors, who will help them, etc. You can get more information on how to be involved in your community here.
*Prepare a home inventory, including video or pictures of your belongings in your home, and a copy of receipts for big ticket items, showing the price you paid and any serial numbers. Then keep it in a safe place like a safe, a safety deposit box, or an offsite location.
*Learn what kind of disasters our area is prone to. For us, it is mostly severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the spring and summer, and severe winter weather in the winter. Learn what all the watches and warnings stand for. Purchase a Weather Radio and set it for our area. This will give you alerts whenever a watch or warning is issued. Click here for more information.
*Make sure you have an adequate food and water storage. Some disasters could cause a disruption in the food supply chain, and make it difficult to get food for a period of time. Buy a little food storage each week to build up your supply. Below are some sites with more information about food and water storage:
From the Church: http://www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,1706-1,00.html
From FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf
Another site with great ideas: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/
*Make sure that you are financially prepared for an emergency. Get out of debt and stay out of debt. Have some money put aside in savings. Also, keep some cash in your emergency disaster kits. The church has a great resource called "One For the Money" that you can get here.
*FEMA has a very comprehensive guide to preparedness that you can download at:
http://home.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/areyouready_full.pdf
*Prepare Spiritually! Being prepared spiritually can be one of the best things we can do. It will help us to have an eternal perspective during any time of crisis.
Preparing now will give you some peace of mind, and help you be able to cope in a disaster or emergency. It will also help you earn credits in the College of Social Sciences.
