How prepared are you for an emergency?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I saw a “The Weather Channel Emergency Preparedness Kit” on woot.com for $12 and figured that I might as well have one. Granted, it’s not up to DHS standards, but it covers a lot of potential situations. I’ll keep it in the trunk of my car (along with my jumper cables) because my car seems to almost always be where I am.

The notable items (crayons and coloring book excluded) are:

2 flashlights with batteries
1 pair of canvas gloves
2 pairs of non-latex gloves
4 AAA batteries
4 D batteries
1 instant cold compress
4 dust masks
4 light sticks
1 first aid kit (contents to be determined)
1 AM/FM radio
1 CPR breathing barrier
1 tweezers
1 CPR booklet
4 emergency survival blankets
2 plastic whistles
1 waterproof document holder (a glorified ziploc I think)
4 emergency ponchos
1 “The Weather Channel Preparedness Guide”
and an embroidered “The Weather Channel” carrying case

The case is roughly the size of a notebook, and is roughly 4 inches deep.

It’s not the best thing out there by any means, but it’s something.

I understand that cash, water, and protein bars of some sort are part of any disaster kit. I found some fairly good deals at http://theepicenter.com/ MREs, survival gear etc.

I also have a Swiss tool, a spotlight (charged), and backups for a few of the electronic items I mentioned in my car.

So, what is in your emergency kit?

2

Good assortment.

You need a big kit for the home (but a lot of the stuff like food is already there) and a small kit for the car,and maybe even a smaller kit yet for the desk at work.

For home, I’d add a lot more light. Get two LED lanterns and two led flashlights, and at least 2 dozen batterys. Make sure they all use the same, I’d go for AA.

I get a small case of water and keep it in my truck and drink it, then get more. I keep 20 gallons at home.

Food? For the car, just some hard candy. No food bars, they go bad with the heat. Hard candy (the nearly 100% sugar kind) doesn’t go bad. Now for home, get some canned food- something that can be eaten cold= p-nut butter, canned pineapple, that sort of stuff.

For the car, a wool sweater too. I keep a hat, gloves, pair of socks, tshirt, sandals, and cheap sweatpants there too. In other words, a complete set of clothes. This has turned out to be more useful than the “survival kit”.

Oh, and for the car? Duct tape.

3

I don’t know if it counts, but I try to keep my First-Aid skills intact so I can help when I run into an accident of some sort.

4

For the car add a limb saw (the kind that the blade folds into the handle) and an entrenching tool.
If the shit hits the electric ventilator, you may need to cut the branches off a fallen tree, or dig something out/up.
Most first aid kits that are included in emergency kits suck donkey balls. 47 band aids, and nothing to use for a splint, or a major wound.
Get a real first aid kit.

5

In my car, I have my golf clubs and shoes, and a towel.

At home, I have 5 or 6 cases of wine, and a few candles.

In my brain, I have a healthy sense of perspective.

6

I’ve got a candle, a cigarette lighter, physical strength, a brain, and a scary face (sometimes). So, I’m not really very prepared in terms of having a well-stocked survivalist kit.

Then again, people who do have a very well-stocked survivalist kit are sometimes a bit… well… odd. :smiley:

If I lived in the bush, I’d be better prepared. I’m in a large city, so it’s a bit different: in the event of a huge catastrophe, I’m basically fucked along with everyone else. Something minor, and I just call the emergency services for help.

7
  • Very well prepared I’d say. In my bag I always keep the following things:

[ul]
[li]Leatherman[/li][li]Jew’s harp[/li][li]Mouth organ[/li][li]pen & notebook[/li][li]150 Uzbek sum (ca. 1.50 USD)[/li][li]2 Sri Lankan rupees[/li][li]personal hookah mouthpiece[/li][li]string[/li][/ul]

For some reason I find it very reassuring to be able to deal with completely unlikely emergency situations. Then again: I live in Denmark - not too many disasters here. I find it too fatalistic when I hear about people stockpiling for 4 years of nuclear winter - better to know that I can always bribe my way around Central Asia if the need should ever appear :cool:

8

If nothing else, I will have eggs.

9

This is a good reminder for me. We have a kit, but it needs to be gone through and updated, for the new hurricane season.

The things I like the best are my hand-cranked flashlights (2) and am/fm radio. Don’t have to worry about having fresh batteries for all that, and the flashlights have a nifty red LED you can turn on by itself so you don’t wreck your night vision.

We also have like a half gallon pump of hand sanitizer, which I learned is very useful if the water supply is compromised. Last year some schmo messed with their plumbing in a way that caused most of Cary to be under a boil water notice just in case, and we learned how important it is to have sanitizer, baby wipes, and bottled water.

I also need to rebuild the first aid kits, since all the medicines and ointments are past their expiry date, and change out the clothing (full outfits, winter gear, and shoes) so they fit everyone.

Of course the food needs to cycled out as well. We did have the presence of mind to buy another can opener and leave it in the emergency bin. If the shit really hits the fan and you have to evacuate, you want everything in one easy place, not running around the house packing.

In the car I have a multitool with a whistle, compass, tiny flashlight, and compartment to keep a few matches dry. Someday I should probably put some matches in there . . .

We also need a new Leatherman - the other is ancient and mistreated, so its joints are all stiff and useless.

We are just outside the official danger zone around a nuclear power plant, so we should probably get some iodine pills and have the evac routes mapped out.

10

We live in hurricane country, but we’re about 70 miles inland, not prime territory. What we have to deal with mostly is loss of power and downed trees, not flooding or wholesale wind damage.

I’m a newly minted EMT, so I have a trauma bag that beats just about any first aid kit on the market. In hand at home are camping supplies, batteries, lights, (civilian) radios, my fire service handheld, plenty of shooting iron and ammo, tools, etc.

Probably the only thing I’m not completely good on is 3-5 days of non-perishable food, but even that’s getting caught up.

Domestic hurricane plan: Wife and critters head to Charlotte if an evac is called, while I camp out at the fire station.

11

You need a battery powered light. Something with more power than a flashlight.

12

I’m a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. It is an excellent program and I am in the process of teaching my neighbors about it.

There is a big difference between being a pseudo-paramilitary end times nutjob and being prepared to see your family through a temporary emergency. Having at the VERY minimum of enough supplies to see your family through 3 days of isolation is simply intelligent insurance. The U.S. government, the Red Cross, and many states have been trying to get this message out for a couple of years now.

13

Let’s see, we live in prime earthquake/fire territory, so…the truck has the trauma kit, bug-out bag, 48 hours of rations (HDRs), water, and a full tool selection in the tool chest. I always carry several knives and multi-tools about my person. The house has a storm center (radios, emergency lighting, etc.), more batteries than you can imagine, about a dozen flashlights/lanterns, over a month of MRE/IMPs for two people, cat food for at least that long, all the camping gear (bags, tents, stoves, etc.), and the means of securing more of what we need when we run out.

I think we’re good.

14

hehehehe…

I should add that I have ABSOLUTELY NO emergency supplies at my house, so in the event of an emergency you should look elsewhere.

15

I’d add a couple of sodium acetate heat packs. Non-electric, non-toxic, forever shelf life.

16

I think a fire extinguisher is a good thing to have, both at home and in the car.

17

So-So. We have an “emergency box” in the basement that is stocked with practical stuff. It’s a big bin with basic stuff handy for power outtages and/or having to hit the road in a hurry.

I wouldn’t put myself in the psycho survialist camp–not by a long shot–but I do tend to be disorganized. If we had to leave the house in a hurry, I’m liable to be running around looking for all kinds of things. If i can keep myself from having to search three levels of the house for a lantern and spare batteries, then this is a good thing. That’s what motivated me to do the box.

When we had a cat, one of the things I had in the emergency box was a disposable litterbox. You can pick these up cheaply in stores, they’ve got a thin layer of litter already there. I figured we might be throwing animals in the car in a hurry, too, and this would be something else I wouldn’t want to burn time trying to put together.

18

I’m pretty well set at home for an emergency, what with having prepared for and ridden out post_Katrina’s Hurricane Rita awhile back.

The car though? Just spare bottles of auto fluids and a sealt belt cutter/window smasher.

19

Don’t forget guns and ammo. Lots of ammo.

20

Heh. A friend and I were talking about what we would do in some sort of fictional post-apocalyptic situation. I said the first place I’d go is to the gun store. When asked what he would do, my friend said “I’m going wherever you go!”