• Flash drive with important
financial documents
• ID tag on backpack
• Stuffed animal
• Deck of cards
• AM/FM/NOAA radio
• Batteries
• Quart of water
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Extra pair of contacts/glasses
• Tissues
• Deodorant
“BUG-OUT” CAR
• Flashlight
• Extra batteries
• Water
• Hearty snacks (such as granola bars)
• Blankets
• Additional jackets and spare items of clothing
• Jack
• Tire-patch kit
• Signal flares
• Metal lockbox or metal/plastic container
to store items A
case of emergency”) into their cell phones along with the number of the
person you’d want contacted if they were injured and couldn’t respond.
Grab-and-go supplies
Experts suggest that after a disaster every household should be prepared to manage at least 72 hours on its own. That means putting together
comprehensive survival kits for each member of the family as well as kits
for your office and cars. Several sources give suggestions as to what to include in these kits, depending on your family’s needs. The following helpful
information and lists are excerpted from Your Survival, by Dr. Bob Arnot
(Hatherleigh Press, 2008).
There may come a time in a disaster when, no matter how much care
you’ve dedicated to fortifying your home and stockpiling supplies, you may
need to leave it all behind and just get the heck out—or “bug out”
in disaster parlance. In that case, you’ll want to grab whatever
few essentials you’ll need on the road, and fast. Which is
where the bug-out bag comes into play.
To create bug-out bags simply stuff a backpack
for each family member with the items on the list at
left, and store them with the rest of your supplies.
Also get in the habit of storing your family’s sleeping bags nearby, along with a handful of other items
that could be useful on the road, such as a couple of
small tube tents, a leash and a small bag of pet food.
That way, the entire family can sling their bug-out
bags over their shoulders, help grab the med kit, vital
financial records box, tents and sleeping bags, and just go.
Think of your car bug-out kit as a very mini, car-based version of your
usual basement stockpile, for those times when your family is stranded on the
road. (See “bug-out” car sidebar at left.) If you own a pickup, a metal lockbox
would be the perfect place to store it; if not, any sort of metal or plastic container will do.
Gadgets to have on hand
There are a handful of other gadgets that every family should have on
hand to ease the burden of an extended utilities outage.
Water filter. A great backup to a bottled water supply,
it will remove toxins and bacteria in the event tap
water becomes contaminated or you have to rely
on external sources such as rain or stream water.
Gas grill. An outdoor portable propane-powered
grill with at least one full tank of propane in reserve
as a disaster spare can cook your meals.
Metal coffeepot. Caffeine withdrawal can
be unpleasant, with symptoms mimicking the
flu. Invest in a metal coffeepot that can withstand the extreme temperatures
of a grill.
Kids’ entertainment devices. Buy yourself some much-needed peace
with portable Game Boy systems or their equivalent.
