|
Have you ever asked yourself the question ‘Is my family ready to evacuate our home if a natural disaster strikes?’ Not all disasters require the evacuation of your home, but banking on being able to stay home can be a life-threatening gamble. Natural disasters can occur anywhere in the world with little to no warning. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and earthquakes are some of the natural disasters that have the potential to force you and your family out of your home. Would your family be ready to evacuate in the event that one of these disasters happened in your neighborhood? Staying at home is the best thing to do in any emergency situation. Your home is stocked with food, water, warmth, and protection. However, there are many examples of when natural disasters force families to evacuate their homes. Hurricane Katrina forced basically all of New Orleans to evacuate. Wildfires that threaten homes in the western US can change direction with the winds and cause mandatory evacuations. If you and your family are faced with a mandatory evacuation order, one of the best ways to be ready is to prepare a bug out bag. Bug out bags, also known as 72 hour kits or survival kits, are made to keep you and your family alive during a stay away from home. Bug out bags are usually hiking or camping backpacks that should include the following: food, water, first aid supplies, shelter (tents, sleeping bags, etc.), clothing, fire making gear, comfort items (candy for kids), and a form of personal protection. Remember that food and water are the most important items to have during an emergency. You and your family won't last long without either food or water. Pack as much food and water as possible, and include a water filter to acquire more away from home. Flashlights, two-way-radios, and emergency money are also good things to include. It is important that they be as lightweight as possible, especially if you have to carry them on your back in case an evacuation by car is not possible. If you need to camp outdoors, shelter is key to your family being comfortable and to help keep morale up. Split the pieces of a tent amongst your family members’ survival kits, and include survival sleeping bags, or lightweight blankets. It is important to pack a survival bug out bag for each member of your family. This will not only distributed the weight amongst the members of your family, but it will also help make sure that each family member will be safe if you get split up. Include personal medication and copies of important documents with each bag. Remember that the usefulness of a bug out bag is only available if it is ready before the disaster happens. That means it needs to be ready right NOW. It will be difficult to pull these kits together while you are being forced from your home. Most people today are oblivious to the fact that disasters don’t wait for you to be ready. They can happen anywhere, any time. The last few decades have been absolutely full of devastating natural disasters all over the place. The key to your survival is to be ready before they happen. For more information on what to include in your bug out bags, click on the link here. For additional information on personal protection during a disaster, go to The Survival Advantage. And Good Luck being prepared!
Related Articles -
bug out bag, survival, disaster, emergency preparedness,
|
