Are You Ready? Part 1

Over the last several days it has been heart breaking to see the disaster that is unfolding in Japan. I am sure your heart is broken for these people as it has been in years past when we have witnessed or experienced our own disasters.

Are you Ready? I have half way prepared in the past but I am on a mission to make sure that my family is as prepared as we can be in the event we have a disaster.

You can visit Ready America there are a lot of great ideas and step by step plans to get prepared.

Most disaster preparedness plans state to be prepared to be self sufficient for a minimum of 3 days since it can take some time for disaster relief to reach some people. I think many of these items we have already thought about but there are others I wouldn't have necessarily considered.

• One gallon of water per person per day for drinking and sanitation. Remember we can live without food much longer than we can live without water.
• 3 day supply of non-perishable food - Some examples below.
• Pork and Beans 
• Chef Boyardees
• Canned Chicken
• Dried Fruit
• Nuts
• Tuna 
• Saltine Crackers
• Vienna Sausages
• There are sorts of non-perishable foods. Basically if it is in a can you can put it in your Disaster kit.
• Make sure you have a can opener -
• A battery powered or hand crank radio are suggested. A NOAA Weather radio  - Make sure you have extra batteries as well.
• Flashlights - I figure at least one flashlight per person in your home plus extra batteries.  A Flashlight like this one is waterproof which could be necessary in a disaster and it takes common AA Batteries.
• First Aid Kit - you can put one together or you can buy one that already has all necessary items included.
• Whistle to signal for help.
• Dust Mask  in addition to Duct Tape  and sheets of plastic for needed protection. I found these really great sheets of plastic with plastic drop cloths.
• Wet towelettes and garbage bags for personal cleaning. I am going to stock my disaster kit with baby wipes  since they are thicker and hold up better for wiping. I am also including garbage bags with twist ties to ensure the closure of the bags.
• Wrench or Pliers are needed in order to turn off utilities if needed.
• Cell Phones and Chargers. The site of Ready America mentions to have a solar charger. I had never heard of these so I did a little research and found one like this that can charge your cell phone.

End of Part 1 - there is so much information to give you I will be posting Part 2 tomorrow!