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Preparing Your Home
For Emergencies
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Home emergency preparedness protects your family from
unforeseen events, like unexpected climate changes, sudden
fire in the night, gas leaks, home invasion and other
potentially life-threatening curves life may through your
way.
Establishing a home emergency preparedness routine
takes a little initial investment of time and money, but
once you prepare everything, staying informed and keeping
your family safe will become a simple routine, like taking
out the garbage when it gets full.
The government website,
Ready.gov,
offers general information about getting ready to evacuate
your home, from getting a kit ready to pre-planning a
departure route and staying informed. The following article
covers emergency preparedness for staying in your home.
Step #1. Food Pantry
For ideal home emergency preparedness plan to have
sufficient non-perishable food in the house to feed you,
your family and your pets for at least 3 days. Such food may
include flour, rice, dry fruit, canned fruit, protein bars
and shakes, as well as canned or preserved meats. Though
rice and flour will require a heat source to be prepared,
the other types of food may be consumed directly.
You may also add dehydrated, high protein meals to your home
emergency preparedness panty, since these last for 7 years
and require only water to be prepared. Store this food in a
high location that will not be vulnerable to floods. Mark
expiration dates clearly on all products and keep your home
emergency preparedness panty stocked with items that have
not expired.
Step #2. Water Supply
Home emergency preparedness requires establishing an
alternate source of water. Buy cheap, large water bags made
of plastic. These fold into a small package but will hold a
few liters of water when filled.
In addition, buy a water
filtration pump such as used by hikers. During winter
emergencies you may be surrounded by flood waters or snow,
but untreated water is dangerous to drink. Even the cheapest
pumps will be sufficient for a prolonged water shortage
emergency.
An even cheaper alternative involves treating water with
iodine drops; however these will give the water an
unpleasant aftertaste. Remember that the human body can only
survive without water for 3 days, though for 3 weeks without
food. Make water preparation a key element in your home
emergency preparedness.
Step #3. Heating and Lighting
Home emergency preparedness for keeping warm is vital for
winter emergencies. Don’t be one of the unprepared who rush
to Home Depot at the last minute to buy propane or kerosene
heaters.
Remember that only kerosene can be safely burned
inside your home, while propane cannot. Even so, kerosene
will have a strong scent that may cause headaches. Still,
such heaters offer you the cheapest alternative for heating
your home.
The next step above that will address home emergency
preparedness in winter involves natural gas heaters that
require no electricity to run. Such heaters must be
installed by a professional company certified in installing
natural gas equipment. Depending on the BTU output of the
unit you select, a natural gas heater will keep a portion of
your home warm and comfortable.
Since natural gas outages
are incredibly rare, you can trust that you will have an
unlimited fuel source to keep your home heated. Finally, if
you can afford a generator to keep your whole home heated,
opt for a natural gas option or be prepared to stock up on
fuel.
Unless you install a generator as part of your home
emergency preparedness, be sure to stock up on several boxes
of candles and matches. Even better, invest in a few
lanterns that run on kerosene or smoke-free lamp oil, such
as Dietz Hurricane Lanterns.
You can also invest in a few
Colman electric lanterns that run on batteries, but be sure
to have a supply of batteries as part of your home emergency
preparedness kit.
Step #4. Cooking
Home emergency preparedness must also address food
preparation. Though you may stock on ready-to-eat forms of
nutrition, your family is likely to eat and feel better if
wholesome food can be cooked.
Have a gas grill outside your
home that runs on a propane tank. Be sure to have an extra
tank in case of emergencies. Rice and soup can be cooked on
your grill. Meat can be grilled before it goes bad in the
absence of electricity to run your freezer.
Even Spam can
taste better when it is cooked with rice, spices and lemon
juice. If you buy a pizza stone, you will be able to bake
flat bread on your outdoor grill.
Step #5. Clothing
To complete your home emergency preparedness pack a dry
clothes kit for each member of the family. Pack the clothes
in Ziploc bags and keep them in a high location in your
home. In addition, invest a little money in wicking winter
clothes that can be layered for keeping warm.
Such clothes can be worn through outdoor winter activities,
but make sure to always keep one clean set of 3 layered
clothing at standby for emergencies.
If you have high
quality sleeping bags for zero or sub-zero temperatures,
include them in your home emergency preparedness plan.
Otherwise, make sure you have sufficient blankets to keep
your family warm in case of winter emergencies.
Be sure to have a phone that works without electricity or a
cell phone. In addition, have a radio that runs on batteries
to keep you informed of evacuations and emergency services
in your area. For disaster response information, visit
FEMA’s
website, as well as
DisasterAssistance.gov.
Comments? Questions?
Drop me a
line.
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