Over in this thread, Sam and RickJay raised the issue of having emergency kits in your home in case of crises like New Orleans.
So, what do people suggest would be a good thing to store in a home emergency kit?
condoms, semiautomatic weapons, and several bottles of vodka
along with the obvious:
-bottled water
-many many batteries for your
-radio &
-flashlight
-extra clothes
-blankets
-vodka
-first-aid supplies (a whole separate list by itself)
-tire iron (no particular reason, you just never know when you will need a good tire iron)
-oh yeah, and non-perishable food
Here is one list.
enough gas in the tank to make it out to the farm 
Not lawyers, guns and money?
what about those of us who don’t have a farm handy?
:eek:
If you don’t have a farm, I’m sure someone would help you buy one.
Some advice from the NYC Office of Emergency Management.
Depends where you live. The kits for floods, earthquakes and blizzards are rather different. Something to purify water, though - e.g., a filter or iodine (5 drops per quart) - is probably the most common and the most important.
You live in Saskatchewan and don’t have a farm handy?!? Jeez Louise! Well, I dunno what you should do. Head on down to Agribition and convince someone to adopt you, maybe?
We have two large storage containers in our outdoor shed in case of a major earthquake.
In one we have food, water & water purification stuff, blankets, clothing, shoes, one frying pan, a camping coffee pot, disposable plates, cups and flatware. Basicly, everything we would take camping for a week… in the dead of winter.
In the other we have medical supplies, more blankets, some cash, some ammo (the guns are in the house in the gun safe) a wind-up radio and one that takes batteries, matches and stuff to start a fire in bad weather. several types of lighting, including a propane lantern and flashlights, and anything else we decided we couldn’t live for a week without.
They are chained to the shed wall. They each have a separate combo lock, and they both have motion/tamper alarms.
We also have smaller versions in two back packs that live in the trunk of whichever car is away from home.
Snoop Dogg, is that you?
There are lots of good sites that describe putting together a disaster kit. I linked to the Homeland Security Dept’s page in the other thread.
I would add that you should also consider the likely nature of the disaster that might hit you. If you live in a flood plain, an inflatable raft sounds like a good idea. If you rank the risk of a terrorist attack, then consider things like HEPA masks. I live in a cold climate, and the worst disaster that’s likely to hit our city is something like a freak snowstorm or an ice storm that takes down power for a few days. The trunk of the car always has blankets in it (a good idea in any cold climate).
You can also get a crank radio. The Grundig 300 has a crank and a generator built in. A few minutes of cranking gets you an hour of radio time, and it has an emergency light built in. In addition, it has a charging jack for cell phones built in, so you can use your cell phone indefinitely as long as there’s an operating cell tower in range.
I don’t listen to AM talk stations.
If what’s going on in New Orleans is any indication, A GUN should be at the top of the list.
Seriously, if the police aren’t there to protect you, and hoodlums come to your home and begin breaking out your windows to get inside and steal your food and water and belongings, words aren’t going to do the trick.
Since apparently we’re all about three days away from having rape gangs wander the street, those paranoid embunkered Montana survivalists are looking pretty sensible today. Personally I’ll be switching from gun control advocate to NRA member, and very large caliber gun will be the first thing in my kit.
If you’re on prescription medication, you should store some of that in your emergency kit if possible. Make sure you change it out every so often so it’s no expired. For example, I’m a diabetic, so in our tornado kit, I have extra Novalog and Lantus, about 25 syringes, and glucagon. I had nightmares after the tornados hit Stoughton a couple weeks ago, so for a while I was checking the kit just to make sure it hadn’t wandered away.
We also have the basic first-aid stuff and a map to show where all the emergency shut off valves are for water and gas, should the people who actually know that stuff be incapacitated. I’m contemplating sneaking cat food into the basement in the near future, but I’m not sure if it would survive the dog or winter fieldmice.
Here in earthquake country I have most of what is mentioned above, plus I have a gas shut of wrench ziptied to the pipe next to the valve. If there is a leak, I don’t want to running around looking for a wrench.
BTW after the Northridge quake, I found an unbroken bottle of burbon. I went around the neighborhood with small cups giving shots. Calmed everybody down, and made me the most popular neighbor that day.
I also have a gas generator.
-rimshot-
I know funny. You, my friend, are funny.
In addition to the usual stuff, might I recommend MRE’s? ( Meals Ready to Eat ). Army Surplus stores may sell them. Alternately, foods that have some value aside from carbos that do not need refrigeration.
As far as real first aid? Benadryl in both forms. Lots of gauze. SEVERAL tubes of Triple Antibiotic ointment. Makings of at least one tournaquet and splint. A few yards of rubber tubing. Painkillers. Carpet strength needle and thread for emergency suturing. Assume that in a catastrophic event- just like this one- that you will have to do some emergency healthcare treatment on your own. Prepare for the basics.
Cartooniverse
You have to keep in mind what you’re planning for. A kit that keeps you comfortable while power and water are out for a few days is one thing, preparing for a post-WWIII hell-on-earth scenario is another. I would first determine what sort of events you are planning to meet. For example, our plans are based around a general loss of civil services for 3-7 days, but not for the kind of all-out anarchy that seems to be enveloping New Orleans.
I was thinking the same thing. Those paranoid rantings of the gun nuts are actually coming true, here in the US. I never expected this.