Last week California rememebered the Loma Prieta earthquake which occurred 20 years ago on October 17th. Just like JFK's assassination, most locals remember exactly what they were doing when, for about 45 seconds, an earthquake rolled through Northern California. The destruction was devastating, and unimaginable. The collapse of the Cypress freeway in Oakland killed hundreds of motorist in their cars, the collapse of the Bay Bridge, and the scenes of San Francisco's homes collapsed, and the Marina district on fire.
You'd think with all the publicity, that I'd be prepared for the "next one" but I'm not. Last weeks remembrance reminded me that WE ALL NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR A DISASTER. You don't have to live in earthquake country to find yourself without food, water, or emergency services for a day or two. Tsunamis, hurricanes, tornado's, flood, or snow storm all have the possibility of leaving you without help for awhile.
You probably have everything you need for an emergency. Just put enough canned food and spare clothes in a plastic bin that has a tight lid. Put the bin somewhere where it will be accessible if you can't enter your house. Such as in the trunk of your car, or in a storage shed outside.
What do you need? Not much. How about two 14 oz. cans of food per person per day. Cans of food? Yes, like canned ravioli's or spaghetti O's. You can buy cans with pull tops so that you don't even need a can opener. It's not gourmet, but you will survive in the event of a disaster.
Here's the hard part. Water. You'll need a gallon of water per person per day. That's a lot of storage, but here's a trick. I live near a creek, so I have 2 gallons of water plus a hand held pump water filter that I bought at a local camping store. I figure worse comes to worse, I'll go to the creek and refill my water bottles with filtered creek water. That should get my family of 4 by for a few days.
Clothes. You don't need a lot, just sweats and a heavy sweatshirt, maybe some extra shoes.
We should all take a few minutes to pull these items together in one place, put them in a water proof container and put it somewhere where it will be safe should you not be able to enter your home.
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