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Prepare Yourself And Build A 72-Hour Disaster Emergency Survival Kit
Emergency Preparation seems to be on everyone’s mind after THAT article was published a few weeks ago. I’ve always been a person who likes to be prepared but I’ll be honest, getting an emergency kit together has never been a high priority. I did, however, already have a small pre-packed kit that I purchased over 7 years ago, way before I owned a home or had children, from the American Red Cross.
After reading up on the BIG earthquake, we are bound to have, I knew it was time to get our kit updated!
I decided to focus on building our 72-hour home emergency supply kit first before worrying about a car and/or work kit. The challenge felt a bit overwhelming in the beginning but after a few clicks on Amazon, a trip to the store, a good dig around our basement pantry and some deep breathing, I had a well-stocked kit in no time.
If disaster strikes, the federal government expects everyone to be self sufficient for at least 3 days. And in catastrophic circumstances, it might take that long for rescue or help to arrive. Having enough food and water in the house will be key in an emergency. I plan to keep a 72 hour supply of emergency ration food in our kit while also supplementing with some other tastier food options, like the big jar of peanut butter I bought at Costco. My plan is to bulk up our emergency food supply over the next few months by grabbing a few cans of extra food during my weekly grocery store runs.
In the case of a large emergency, there may not be any electricity or gas which means there will be no way to cook or refrigerate your food. Having a large selection of canned, ready-to-eat food will be a huge help. You want to make sure to get canned food that can be eaten directly out of the can and are also calorically dense so items like beans, chili, tuna fish and canned meat are great items.
My tip is to buy an extra can or two of food when they are on sale. Canned food does have an expiration date so you’ll want to check your emergency food stash at least once a year and rotate out items that are nearing their expiration date. Donate or eat those items and remember to replenish your supply! I also purchased Emergency Food Rations and Emergency Water from the American Red Cross which each last 5 years before they expire. They are not necessarily tasty items but they do provide your body with dense caloric nutrition while having a long expiration date.
I also updated my Red Cross kit with a hand crank radio that triples as a flashlight and phone charger while adding some emergency blankets, extra clothing and important documents. In the Seattle area, the Official Emergency Station is KIRO 710 AM or KOMO 1000 AM. If you have children in your home, I found a great article on stocking Go Bags for each member of your family from babies to adults.
I was storing my kit in our basement but after some discussion with my husband, we’ve decided to move it upstairs to an area where we are more likely to be in an emergency. I’ve separated our items into a storage bin and a Go Bag. The storage bin holds most of our food and water while the Go Bag has important documents, some food and water and first aid supplies. The Go Bag will be important if we need to leave quickly.
Here is what the Red Cross suggests that everybody has in their emergency kit to last at least 72 hours. For those extra prepared people, check out this list from FEMA.
72 hour Emergency Kit
Basic Supplies
Extras
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