So what can you do to better prepare yourself and your family to survive a disaster, big or small? Hopefully, this article will help you in that process, enabling you to prioritize your needs, establishing a plan and gather supplies and skills. So, where to start? How much do you need? First, you need to identify the most likely disasters you’re likely to encounter in your area. Based on those events, could you stay in your house, or would you have to evacuate? How many people (and pets) are in your house? From there, you can start your planning. There are also steps and precautions you can take that are useful no matter what the disaster is, from a hurricane to a house fire. Regardless of the nature of the disaster, there are certain supplies and pieces of equipment that are useful to have on hand.
People who survive a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, wildfire or flood will all have similar needs. They will need food and water in the next few hours to keep going and get work done. They will need clothes, shelter and heat if it is cold. They will need to treat injuries and get cleaned up. They may need to keep at this for days or weeks at a time.
Now lets talk about a long-term event. Flu pandemic would be just such an event. The federal government even acknowledges that. Depending on what government agency you turn to for information, you will get different answers on how prepared you need to be for a flu pandemic, from three days to three months. FEMA, Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control all agree that you should be prepared. Flu pandemic lasts for months and come in waves of 30 days at a time, recedes and then comes back in another wave of illness and death for another 30 days. It can repeat this cycle for half a year. During that time, expect travel to be restricted, and “just in time” delivery of food and household goods will be severely interrupted. Store shelves will be empty. Gas stations will be dry. People will stay home from work out of fear of contracting the flu. That means workers won’t always show up at the water plant, the power plant or pick up your garbage. You see how this could be a huge disaster, lasting a long time. So how can you prepare for such an event? The same as the other disasters we discussed, but for a longer term.
Looking at each of these events we find common needs regardless of the circumstances: food, water, shelter, heat, light, medical, hygiene and recovery. We will discuss each one of these as a separate category