PUT AN “ICE” CONTACT IN YOUR PHONE NOW! I’ll wait… ICE is “In Case of Emergency”. It is the first thing a first responder will look for on your phone. Your SO, parents, boss, neighbor, doctor, WHOEVER you want to know you have been hurt! DO THIS NOW!!!

Keep crates/boxes/travel cages with food for your pets. I keep a pillowcase near my snake’s cage in case we need to bug out, and a travel cage and net are by my birdcage. My friends who may come to my house if I’m out of town also know where these things are!

Keep extra copies of important papers (marriage and birth certs, car pinks, insurance forms, medical info, out of town or state contact info) in one bag, ready to grab and go. A fire proof safe may not be enough, especially if the house collapses and you can’t get in to get it!

Don’t forget your meds! Many newer phones have great programs where you can enter all the medical data you need. The prescribing doctor, pharmacy number, prescription number, even your vision info! If you have to escape so quickly that you can’t grab them, the data on the phone means you can get an emergency refill once you are in a safe place.

We keep shoes and flashlights next to our bed, and I ALWAYS keep the last pair of glasses before my newest in a place I can grab them. Imagine a large eq shaking your bed table. Do you think your glasses will still be there? LOL! Not so much!

Also, if an eq hits and you are in bed, STAY THERE! Walking during a large quake is dangerous and difficult. In bed, you have pillows and are covered. In a doorway, well, the biggest danger is from – THE DOOR!

My mother says she NEVER lets her gas tank get under 1/2 a tank. If there were an emergency, she’d have enough gas to get away or have heat/cool, etc. I try to do this as well. With the Prius, we don’t worry as much, as it CAN run on battery only for a bit, but it’s still best to have the gas!

Water is the main worry after a disaster. Food can be easy, as most American pantries are overstocked with cans. Where I live, we can solar cook in our cars, but we also have a propane grill now. And I know how to make a solar still and can open the hydrants on our street. Pool water is great for making a toilet flush….

When there is extreme weather in your area as a regular thing, check your yard and house. Is rain runoff bringing down mud? Is a window open or roof leaking? Being aware of little changes in your surroundings can save your life!

Also being prepared and able to help friends is nice. We have a bugout tree among us, as one place may be evacuated due to fire, but 10 miles away is perfectly safe. So we are all able and willing to go and provide extra hands/cars/storage room for one who may have to run quick.

If there is a storm warning or fire in your neighborhood, let your boss know you may need to leave at a moment’s notice on that day. In SoCal, most evacs are over in a day or two unless, as was the case a few years ago, there are a LOT of fires being fought!

Enjoy your evac time! It can be a peaceful time to think. After the 94 eq, we had the BEST view of the night sky, and enjoyed sitting and bonding with neighbors in the midst of it all. As long as you aren’t injured, and your basic needs are met, you are doing GREAT! (I still have my earthquake bear. Just a stuffed bear I could hug when aftershocks came or I felt nervous. Take care of your mental and emotional health too!)

1)When assembling your kit you should realize MOST truly irreplaceable items are ruined by mud & water. An inexpensive vacuum sealer protects any irreplaceable documents, etc.that can be damaged by wet/damp(the kind you use for food).

2)Loosely seal your cellphone! It works in the bag just fine + acts as a GPS locator! Have a copy of a quality survival manual (Go Scouts!) because everyone forgets something when it all goes to hell.

3)Mortgage deeds, stock certificates,car titles etc belong in [waterproof]safety with copies at home for reference. Use those as-on-TV vacuum seal larger bags for clothing/foodstuffs you may need to exist. Just having flour, salt, yeast, ramen noodles, dried beans and soup base means you can survive a LONG time on what fits in one vacu-pak. In storm season we have one ready to go 24/7. I have a waterproof bag to put my laptop in just in case I have to evacuate in water.

All this fits into a single waterproof case light enough for 1 or 2 to carry or tow. It’s tied with a length of rope which makes carrying & towing easy + doubles later for many uses

4)I learned to make a simple survival kit out of a pair of sturdy but worn out shorts with pockets. I cut out the ‘seat’, sewed on more pockets & made tie-on straps & waterproofed the kit. It has lots of small pouches to carry the vitals: a length of nylon fishing line (9lb test) Plain dental floss works great, too but take it out of the container to save space. 1 good quality multipurpose Swiss army or Boy Scout knife (don’t skimp on this! Cheap don’t last). Fishing hooks in ass’t sizes. Ass’t needles. On a 1″ thin dowel rod wind 10-15′of cotton thread.(can be used for sewing wounds in an emergency).

5)Coil a length of sawing wire – you can attach sticks for handles & saw branches & even thin trees. In a small medicine bottle stuff cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly – they start fires incredibly well even if the kindling is wet. Waterproof matches are nice but carry a small magnifying glass to use the sun to start fires. Once you have a fire you always feel better because you have heat, light, safety & can cook (empty pop cans heat water really fast. I always have a small quality hatchet ready to go in case we have to escape.

All of the above fits neatly into my lovely apron-survival kit which is only 10″ wide & wraps 3/4 around the person. It weighs less than 3 lbs.

Each of us has a heavy duty survival knife for our belts.

6)I backup data only online – not programs. Who needs the whole computer OS saved? I use Mozy.com which is free.

7)I stopped using battery operated flashlights years ago. Invariably the battery was dead, couldn’t find one etc. Now I have sets of those shake-to-charge lights in both cars + on every floor of the house in easy reach.

8)In emergency am/fm/weather radio that runs by solar,hand cranking AND rechargable batteries is a must. I’ve seen great ones for under 50 bucks – and even a mini one for 29.95 @ Radio Shack. These can recharge your cellphone, IPOD etc – but make sure you have the right cord taped to the radio! We have one in the house & one in our escape vehicle (which is ALWAYS kept filled with gas)

9)Lots of people by water in those small bottles. Sorry, NOT enough. I save plastic gallon & 1/2 gallon jugs, sterilize them & put boiled water with 1/2 tsp chlorine bleach per quart to retard bacteria. I dip the tops in liquid paraffin to seal out all air. I keep 15 gallons of potable water on hand at all times in a place above any foreseeable flood water.

10)In your first aid kit go mostly squares of clean cotton cloths (old t-shirts – these can be reused vs gauze), neosporin cream (watch the expiration dates) & small bar (hotel)Soap (best for small wounds)and water purification tabs.

11)One of THE most important thing people forget is to keep ALL their daily life sustaining meds (I also include Tylenol, Motrin, antibacterial creams etc)in a waterproof container so you can grab all your meds in a flash. As an RN I can tell you horror stories about people who had to go without vital meds and died before they could get new scripts.

12)Put a short medical bio in this container with diagnoses, doctors names, etc. Make sure you carry ID on your person as well. Bodies after a week are hard to I.D.

FYI – we practice every other month or two with a mock drill to see how fast we can get everything loaded in the SUV or down to the basement where we installed a sturdy tornado shelter. (We’re down to under 10 min) In winter we keep blankets, food bars, water, radios, foil insulators & shovels in both vehicles all the time in case of being stranded.

This may seem like a lot but once you get organized all you need to do is rotate your food stuffs and meds.

- I definitely wouldn’t store personal documents and such in the car, for fear of theft.

- We store our documents in a fireproof, but unlocked, safe. Why unlocked? So that a thief can sift through the contents, take any money, and hopefully leave the rest of the contents behind. That option is better than the thief taking the entire safe and cracking it open later, offsite.

- I like Welmoed’s idea about booze and cigarettes. A carton of Marlboro’s might be very valuable in trade.

- Do a dry run. We evac’ed a couple of years ago due to a flood. There wasn’t a lot of danger of the flood reaching our house (although it decimated other areas of town) but we worried about the water supply and electricity, since a city to the north had to fight valiantly to protect their water supply. With a 9 month old, we didn’t want to risk it. It took far too longer to evacuate.

About a year ago, we had a false alarm on the natural gas alarm. Again, it took far to long to get out (although not as long as with the flood). It may be necessary to reinforce the concept of “get the hell out” with family members.

Try searching it and you will find that everybody wants to survive in a different way

And you should have more than one. Every car you own should have one

Crowbars, come a longs, chains, catfood, crapping paper, can’t get wet, can’t get cold, can’t get my stuff,cut off gas line, cut down trees, curry cooker, carry water,
call somebody, cash for stuff, coins for candy, cellphone charging, can’t forget kids stuff, clothes for the season, crank up lights,
cars full of gas, come on, lets haul ass

http://www.inventorybuilder.com

Your old eyeglasses (better than nothing!)

Copies of drug prescriptions

Always have a picture of each family member (including pets) on you, in case you need to make a “missing” poster.

Quarters (phone cards may do you no good if computer networks are down.) There aren’t many pay phones around but they may be all that’s working.

Designate one out of state contact each family member should call to say they are ok, and so you can locate each other. Make sure your children know this number.